The Labour ACC spokesperson Ruth Dyson has welcomed the decision of the Speaker to reject Murray McCully's breach of privilege complaint.

"The Minister was playing petty politics, because he doesn't like criticism of his privatisation of ACC.

"There was no substance at all to his complaint. The young blind woman, her ACC case manager and her employer were told that the quotes for workplace insurance premiums were so high because of the employee's blindness.

"It was legitimate to raise their concerns in the media and in Parliament. Despite the concerted efforts of the Minister and the Insurance Council to discredit the information, the fact remains that the young woman was forced to become self-employed, in order to continue working as a masseuse.

"The original quotes to the employer were as I described them in Parliament. She then received lower quotes after removing the blind woman from her staff. Mr McCully has omitted that vital fact from his vitriolic but pathetic attack.

"I will continue to highlight the inequities resulting from the ACC reforms," Ruth Dyson 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>>