The Government is refusing to acknowledge legal advice showing that its objective for passing urgent immigration legislation this week was not met by the law change, Labour immigration spokesperson Lianne Dalziel said today.

Lianne Dalziel said that Government MPs refused leave in the House today for her to table a letter sent to Immigration Minister Tuariki Delamere from the Refugee Council.

"The Government is clearly trying to save the Minister from embarrassment because it seems fairly obvious that statements he made to defend the urgent passing of this legislation were incorrect.

"The Refugee Council shows clearly why the legislation does not do what the Minister says it does.

"In Parliament this week, Labour slammed the legislation as being a panic measure which abused the Parliamentary process.

"If the Government had adopted proper processes, hitches such as the one outlined by the council, could have been avoided," Lianne Dalziel said.

© 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>>