ACT Leader Richard Prebble said he was delighted that a Maori leader of the mana of Nellie Rata has put herself forward as ACT candidate for Parliament. "I have known Mrs Rata for over 20 years. She and her late husband Mat Rata were a great team," Mr Prebble said.

"Mrs Rata tells me that she has been a supporter of the principles of ACT for some time, in particular she strongly agrees with what ACT had been saying about the scandalous way the whole Waitangi process has gone off the rails.

"It was Maori from Muriwhenua in Northland who brought the first court case challenging the government's fishing quota. Even though Mat won the court case, he died before he saw a snapper. Maori fishers in Northland who were adversely affected by the introduction of the quota system have yet to see any fish. Northland's Waitangi claim is just chewing up lawyers' time.

"When Mrs Rata indicated she wished to publicly state her support for ACT - naturally, as she is such a widely respected figure, I was delighted. As Mrs Rata was her husband's unpaid secretary, organiser, and advisor, she has been in a way an honorary Member of Parliament for 20 years.

"I have no doubt that she would make a superb MP and I believe she has a realistic chance of winning Te Tai Tokerau," Mr Prebble said.

ends

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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>>