ACT Finance spokesman Rodney Hide said today “that the weeding out of 21 redundant regulations was a ‘good start’.”

“We expect and demand that business compete internationally. But they can’t compete tied up in red tape and taxed hard. The government’s elimination of 21 redundant regulations in commerce and labour portfolios is a good start. The key to cutting out red tape is to recognise that the cornerstones of a market economy are private property and contract.

“Too much red tape arises simply because politicians and bureaucrats think they know best and don’t respect private property and private contracts. Commerce Minister Max Bradford is to be congratulated for making some progress. But there is a long way to go.

“Under Labour and Alliance doing business will become next to impossible. These parties have no respect for private property. They do believe that they know best. Businesses simply want put up with being told what to do by Jim Anderton and Michael Cullen. They will simply move off-shore,” said Rodney Hide.

ends

© 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>>