29 October 2004

PM responds to Chief Justice’s comments

Prime Minister Helen Clark today responded to comments reported to have been made by Chief Justice Sian Elias at the International Bar Association conference in Auckland. “In a panel discussion the Chief Justice appears to have again raised issues around administrative support for the judiciary and superannuation for judges,” Helen Clark said.

“These matters are being worked through with the judiciary by the Ministry of Justice.

“I have never believed that the discussion between the bureaucracy and the judiciary on these issues could be the basis for asserting that there is any threat to judicial independence in New Zealand.”

The Prime Minister repeated that judicial independence is a sacrosanct principle in this country, and said that she had no further comment to make.

ENDS

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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>>