Media Release
6 August 2004

Shonky Property Developers Targeted

New Zealand First has signaled its intention to put the heat on shonky property developers.

Speaking in Palmerston North today, housing spokesperson Brent Catchpole expressed disgust at property developers who cheat by hiding behind ‘phoenix’ companies to avoid liability for defective buildings.

“These companies set up companies for specific developments, and then wind them up as soon as the properties are sold, leaving the owners with no one to sue if defects are discovered.

“They are really destroying the hopes and dreams of prospective home owners and harming the reputations of others who are a legitimate part of the building industry,” Mr Catchpole said.

“The Building Industry Authority should be retained and given the power to ensure we never again see debacles in the housing industry, like the leaky houses shambles.”

Mr Catchpole said the authority should also be able to move against the predatory operators who preyed on the vulnerability of small sub contractors in the building industry.

ENDS

© Scoop Media

Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>