"The continued weakness in New Zealand's external accounts underlines the need for a coherent and determined export strategy, Labour finance spokesperson Michael Cullen said today.

"The latest overseas merchandise trade figures show imports were 9.7 percent higher than the June quarter, 1998 while exports grew only 0.8 percent over the same period.

"This imbalance is putting more pressure on New Zealand's already high current account deficit, virtually guaranteeing a credit downgrade after the elections.

"There is also accumulating evidence that the domestic recovery is starting to lose steam. Business and consumer confidence are down and the July job ads series, out this morning, shows growth in job ads is slowing.

"To put the New Zealand economy on a firmer foundation we need to strengthen, diversify and add value to our export blend and to hasten the transition from a commodity-based to a knowledge-based economy," Dr Cullen said.

"Labour's industry policy is designed to do just that."

© 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>>