Labour Leader Helen Clark said today that Labour welcomed New Zealand making a contribution to the United Nations peace-keeping force in East Timor.

"Labour has had a long time interest in the future of East Timor. We believe that it is vital that the outcome of the ballot in East Timor is respected and the slaughter of the East Timorese is halted.

"It has been clear for quite some time that an international force would be needed to ensure that East Timor can make a speedy transition to independence and to restore order to the region.

"One of the issues this deployment highlights is the need for a re-thinking of the composition of the New Zealand Defence Force in line with the arguments presented by the Foreign Affairs and Defence Select Committee.

"New Zealand presently lacks a capacity to shift rapidly large numbers of troops. In the future, acquisitions for the Navy will need to be made taking this deficiency into account.

"It should also be noted that this New Zealand involvement requires from the Air Force the contribution of a transport and surveillance capacity. The Skyhawks will not be involved in any way. Nor, if we had them, would F-16s be involved.

"Participation in peace-keeping operations has become a central function of the New Zealand Defence Force. The sooner the force is configured so that we can speedily meet our commitments in this area the better. The East Timor involvement certainly strengthens the case made by the Quigley report for re-thinking the composition of the Defence Force," Helen Clark said.

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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>>