Cullen & Sutton Won't Front Up Over Land Access

ACT New Zealand Rural Affairs Spokesman Gerry Eckhoff today accused the Labour Government of refusing to front up to farmers' outrage over its land access proposals.

"The refusal of two Labour Cabinet Ministers, Michael Cullen and Jim Sutton, to address the issue of land access in their speeches to the Federated Farmers' national council meeting, highlights just how embarrassed they are on the subject.

"Both had a golden opportunity to explain to farmers the rational and reasoning of Labour's proposals. Instead, they studiously ignored the issue completely, and did nothing to allay farmers' fears over the loss of their property rights.

"The Ministers' decision to ignore the issue has simply confirmed in the minds of farmers that the pending land access legislation will be even more draconian than we first thought," Mr Eckhoff said.

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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>>