Prime Minister Jenny Shipley and Conservation Minister Nick Smith today announced National's commitment to establishing five new kiwi sanctuary zones on the mainland to ensure the survival of our national icon.

The commitment is a cornerstone of National's conservation and environment policy launched at a kiwi nursery at Arahura on the West Coast today.

"Kiwi numbers have collapsed from around 12 million a thousand years ago to less than 70,000 with loss of habitat and pest introduction. Without urgent action kiwi are likely to become extinct on the mainland by 2025.

"National will establish five extensive kiwi sanctuary zones in Haast, Okarito, Taranaki, Coromandel and Northland. The zones will be the target for intensive predator control, research and monitoring and public education," Mrs Shipley said.

The facility visited by Mrs Shipley and Dr Smith today specialises in hatching and rearing of Okarito Brown Kiwi

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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>>