Tuariki Delamere has belatedly woken up to the severe housing problems facing Pacific people in New Zealand, Labour Pacific Island Affairs spokesperson Taito Phillip Field said.

"The housing crisis, with its severe health and poverty consequences, has long been recognised by Labour and long denied by the Government. The crisis is a direct result of National's introduction of market rents for state housing. That policy has had a disastrous impact on low-income New Zealanders.

"Pacific Island people are, in the Minister's own words, "at the bottom of the heap."

"As the MP for Mangere, I am dismayed and appalled by South Auckland's health statistics," Mr Field said. "The health status of low-income families, in particular the poor health of children in South Auckland, is directly linked to the Government's housing policy, which has forced 2 and 3 families to cram into one house. National MP Arthur Anae has claimed Pacific Island people choose to live in over-crowded conditions. What nonsense. They are caught in a poverty trap; a trap set by an uncaring Government.

"The need identified in the scoping report for appropriate-sized housing for larger families is already part of Labour policy. Labour in Government is committed to working with Pacific Island communities to establish pilot programmes to meet their needs, including the design of appropriately sized housing stock.

"The National-led Government that Mr Delamere helps to prop up has done nothing to address such issues. It has always denied a link between its housing policy, poverty and poor health. The evidence provided in this report shows once again how pathetic that denial is."

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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>>