Wednesday, 4 August 2004

ORNZ chairman accuses DOC of ‘despotic behaviour’

Outdoor Recreation NZ Chairman Paul Check today slammed the Department of Conservation for ‘time and time again demonstrating behaviour worthy of a Third World dictatorship’.

“In an amazing interpretation of the public submissions received on the proposed Great Barrier Island Marine Reserve, DOC has interpreted a resounding 73% of submissions against the proposal as a public mandate to proceed,” he said.

“It is a poor reflection on a Government department when it chooses to ignore the very people it purports to represent.”

Mr Check said “DOC claims ‘Conservation is based on societal support’. Well, it is high time DOC walked the talk and heeded the advice of their employers, the public of New Zealand.

“To the Minister of Conservation, Mr Carter, we say, ‘No really does mean no!, and the New Zealand public have said a resounding NO! to the Great Barrier Island Marine Reserve.”

ENDS

Actual Figures:

NO

1374

73.7%

Not Given

25

1.3%

Unsure

5

0.3%

YES

446

23.9%

Y/N

14

0.8%

TOTAL REPLIES

1864

100.0%

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>>