Labour Wellington Central candidate Marian Hobbs said she will campaigning vigorously for local votes from National Party supporters in light of the almost certainty of National pulling out of the Wellington Central race.

"I will be reminding National Party voters in the Wellington Central electorate that they do still have a choice and they shouldn't feel obliged to support Richard Prebble," Marian Hobbs said.

National is expected to announce in the next two days that it will not stand a candidate in Wellington Central. It follows the announcement last week that National would stand aside in Ohariu-Belmont to try and give United MP Peter Dunne a clear run.

"I would not like to be a National voter in Wellington. This is the second election in a row that the National have abandoned its supporters here. The addition of Mark Thomas and Kerry Prendergast to marginal positions on the party's list does not make up for not offering National voters an electoral candidate to support.

"Wellington Central voters from all parties are looking for a strong voice in Parliament on Wellington issues - be it street safety, the National Library, Radio New Zealand, human rights or Transmission Gully.

"They want an MP to concentrate on representing Wellington concerns as a primary focus. That's what I am promising to do and I believe I am capable of picking up as many National votes in Wellington Central as Richard Prebble is," Marian Hobbs 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>>