ACT MP Donna Awatere Huata today said she is voting against the Apple and Pear Industry Restructuring Bill in protest over the lack of choice for growers in the Bill.

"ACT has made substantial gains for growers in negotiations over this Bill and has been unwavering in our commitment to full deregulation.

"As an orchardist, representing my whanau and community who are reeling from poor Board decisions I am voting against this Bill because it does not free them from ENZA's monopoly.

"Parliament should at least give growers a vote to allow them to decide on the issue of full deregulation. This Bill should contain a sunset clause to set a time limit for an end to ENZA's monopoly.

"The reality is that 25% of growers face going to the wall over the next few weeks and that number can only grow.

"This is about the freedom of growers to go about their business. If we tried to force all winemakers to go through this kind of expensive, time-consuming process then there would be an outcry.

"This is a matter of survival for many growers. It is wrong that decisions affecting their livelihoods and families are left in the hands of politicians and Board executives. We need choice to survive. We have the right to that choice. We should be allowed to exercise that right," said Donna Awatere Huata.

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>>