For Immediate Release
Wednesday 30 June 1999

Defence Contracting – Please Explain!

The New Zealand First Defence spokesperson, Ron Mark, has asked the Defence Minister to explain how contracts for promotional videos are let to private companies.

“It has been drawn to my attention that a public relations company has been employed to make a video for the Army without the job going out for public tender.

“Mr Bradford has been asked who authorised the work, the exact value of it, and the criteria Defence uses to select companies to provide services,” said Mr Mark.

Ron Mark said that the cost of the video for the Army was in the vicinity of $100,000.

“It is important to know whether the correct procedures have been followed in this case,” said Mr Mark.

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>>