Friday 18th Jun 1999 Richard Prebble Media Release -- Economy

The proposal by the Wool Board to spend 12% of its multi-million dollar budget on accountability is yet another sign of how out of touch with reality the Wool Board is, says ACT Leader Richard Prebble.

Mr Prebble says most costed elements in the Wool Board's new strategic plan are wildly extravagant, but the proposal to spend $5.4 million on accountability and governance takes the cake.

"Most woolgrowers are probably not profitable yet the Wool Board is prepared to spend lavish amounts of woolgrowers' money on 'accountability' - just a PR word for their PR budget.

"The last thing the Wool Board needs is more PR. If its marketing was as good as its PR, the price of wool would be higher than gold,ö Mr Prebble said.

"ACT is putting written questions to the Minister on the matter.

"It's very hard to justify using the law of the land to confiscate a 20th of every farmer's wool crop to pay for PR campaigns."

© 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>>