The heat is on and Richard Prebble is beginning to wilt, observed Labour MP Trevor Mallard today.

"Mr Prebble is happy when spouting meaningless rhetoric. But the Act leader looks distinctly uncomfortable now that the focus has turned on to his extreme economic policy.

"That's because he can't fool all the people all the time. Voters can work out the numbers for themselves - if you cut $3.6 billion from government expenditure like Act is proposing, it will mean massive cuts in social spending in areas like Health, Education and Superannuation.

"For example, Act's approach to superannuation would leave a married couple at least $76 a week worse off by 2010.

"Even Bill English admits that Act's economic policy is "unrealistic".

"It's far worse than that. It would create a two-tier society: the rich getting richer, and the rest of New Zealand facing increased user-charges and reduced services.

"Act wants to sell state assets like TVNZ, so that it can give its wealthy business backers a tax break. Someone earning the equivalent of the Prime Minister's salary will be $440 a week better off. But 82 percent of taxpayers will get nothing from Act's flat tax.

"The smokescreens put up by Mr Prebble are beginning to clear - and he doesn't like it. New Zealanders can now see the inherent inequalities in Act's policies and the threat they pose to our society, our values and our way of life," Mr Mallard 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>>