The cost of the Greens 'Christmas Bonus' for all beneficiaries has today been put at a staggering $250 million.

ACT Finance Spokesman Rodney Hide said new Green MP Sue Bradford's announcement that the quid pro quo for her supporting Labour and Alliance should be a Christmas bonus of an extra week's benefit for all beneficiaries was outrageous and grossly unfair.

"What Ms Bradford doesn't understand is that that money has to come out of the pockets of hardworking New Zealanders many of whom are struggling to look after their own families this Christmas.

"Each and every working person would have to knock $150 of their hard-earned money out of their budget this Christmas to pay for it.

"Ms Bradford's 'bonus' plan is a frightening example of the hammering working New Zealand families are going to take under this new government.

"Sue Bradford has never pretended to represent working New Zealanders. The difficulty for this Government and the country is that she is now in a position to wring dollars out of everyone's back pocket.

"Helen Clark and Jim Anderton made a great play about the speed with which they drew up their Coalition Agreement. They should have waited until the final results were in. With the arrival of the Greens in Parliament that speed may now come back to haunt them," said Rodney Hide.

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>>