Te Tairawhiti MP, Tuariki Delamere, said today he was deeply disappointed the Government had again declined to award a posthumous Victoria Cross to Lance-Sergeant Haane Manahi.

"I believe today's announcement of a New Zealand honours system for bravery would have been the proper time for this long-standing injustice to have been righted," he said.

"I have carefully examined the reasons given by the Prime Minister for the decision, but I find I cannot agree with them.

"Why did we bother to go to all the trouble of setting up a New Zealand-based honours system, only then to find we still have to crawl back to Britain when we want to award a medal?

"When are we ever going to break away from the apron strings of Britain in these matters?" said Mr Delamere.

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>>