Labour Leader Helen Clark said tonight all eyes would be on New Zealand First tomorrow to see if it intended yet again to bail the National Party out of a tight corner as it did after the last election.

Mr Bradford's poorly targeted electricity legislation cannot pass without New Zealand First support.

"New Zealand First knows that it is the retail companies, not the line companies, which bear the primary responsibility for power price increases since Mr Bradford's restructuring.

"If Mr Bradford were really on the side of consumers as he claims, he would be directing his attention to the retail end, and not at the line companies at this stage.

"Labour's deputy leader Michael Cullen made it clear at the time the legislation was introduced that there were significant problems with it and that if they were not addressed, he would recommend Labour vote against it.

"Labour believes that Mr Bradford should immediately order a full inquiry by the Commerce Commission into why prices have risen, and work constructively with the electricity industry on a regulatory framework which will work.

"Rushing through this poorly targeted legislation in the dying days of this National Party administration is most unlikely to reduce prices," Helen Clark 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>>