The regulatory shambles surrounding a potentially significant new tyre product makes a mockery out of the Government's stated intention to remove obstacles to innovation, according to Labour's industry development and energy spokesperson Pete Hodgson.

"A company called Tyre Seal has been seeking a New Zealand Standard for nearly six years, during which time their tyre sealant product has been launched in Australia and throughout Europe.

"This product claims to improve the life of tyres and reduce fuel consumption. It complies with European regulations and approval was granted in under a month. Yet in New Zealand the delay and the expense has produced nothing.

"It would seem that at least part of the problem is that the Government allows the tyre industry not only to make a legitimate input into the standards approval process but also to effectively delay or block progress.

"In that sense the issue resembles the H1 building code for homes, where cost-effective energy efficiency is being blocked by those with an interest in non-complying solid wall house building.

"Far from being the innovative doyen of the freemarket, this Government is imprisoned both by the interests of the status quo and by its own tiredness."

© 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>>