Labour education spokesperson and Hutt South MP Trevor Mallard has welcomed the resignation of South Island National Party hack Glen Dillon from the board of the Hutt Valley Polytechnic.

However, Trevor Mallard said Mrs Dillon, a former National Party Otago Southland Divisional Chair, should have never been appointed in the first place.

"There are ample talented and qualified people with a strong connection to the Hutt Valley who could have been appointed to the board. Instead a Ministerial decision was made to appoint an outsider who the polytechnic would have then had to pay travel and possibly accommodation expenses. That is a waste of education funding.

"Also of concern was the fact that Mrs Dillon finished her last political appointment, as chair of Healthcare Otago, under a cloud of allegations about her role in cuts to health services and over expenditure on executive salaries and conditions.

"It seems her major qualification for the job was that she has been a long time hack for the National Party.

"I asked Tertiary Education Minister Max Bradford to rescind this appointment and I am glad that my efforts have paid off," Trevor Mallard 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.

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