The National Party's claims to be putting people into jobs and not onto benefits have been shown to be about as truthful as statements about alleged payouts to former TV1 newsreader John Hawkesby, says Labour social welfare spokesperson Steve Maharey.

Statistics based on the 1996 census show that more than 40 per cent of Maori children and 37.9 per cent of Pacific Islands children come from homes where parents are unemployed.

"That is absolutely astounding and a clear sign of the government's failure to move people away from their dependency on the state and into real work," Mr Maharey said.

"It shows a whole new generation of New Zealanders whose parents, through no fault of their own, are dependent on state provided benefits for their livelihood. The National/Act approach of attacking beneficiaries and treating them as second class citizens has proved to be an unmitigated failure.

"Instead accepting some responsibility for stimulating new opportunities for New Zealanders the Government has turned its back - effectively trapping more and more New Zealand families in poverty.

"The figures are a disgraceful indictment of the government's social policies of the past nine years and show it is time for a fresh new approach," Mr Maharey 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>>