28 June 1999

MEDIA STATEMENT For Immediate Release

Foreign Minister Don McKinnon today welcomed the appointment of Neil Walter as the new Secretary of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

"I know that Neil is held in high regard by all his colleagues at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and by the broader community. He brings a great deal of experience to his new role.

"Neil has filled a variety of senior foreign service roles, including Ambassador in Indonesia, as Deputy Secretary of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and most recently, as our Ambassador in Japan.

"He has represented New Zealand very effectively in his postings overseas.

"I look forward to continuing to work with Neil in his new role," Mr McKinnon said.

Mr McKinnon also congratulated Graham Fortune on his new appointment as Secretary of Defence. Mr Fortune is currently Mr McKinnon's Special Advisor on East Timor.

ENDS

© 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>>