"It seems the only way to stop Christine Rankin's spending splurge is to cut up her credit card.," Labour spokesperson on employment Steve Maharey said today.

Mr Maharey is concerned that, while inquiries by the Audit Office and State Services Commission into WINZ' extravagance are underway, Mrs Rankin is splashing out large sums of money on PR, a private detective and business consultants in an attempt to clear her department and herself of the allegations.

"In other words, having spent her way into trouble she is now trying to spend her way out of it.

"And while she has all the department's resources at her disposal, the manager facing disciplinary proceedings for her role in the hiring of the chartered flights to Wairakei has only her lawyer.

"This is relevant as the staff member vigorously contests Mrs Rankin's version of events, specifically her claim that she was "misled" over the Wairakei travel bill.

"Fairness demands that she be made to stand down as WINZ Chief Executive until the official Audit Office and SSC inquiry is completed and until the Wairakei incident has been fully investigated," Steve Maharey said.

© 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>>