Labour Leader Helen Clark today strongly endorsed the proposal of the Canadian foreign minister to have the APEC meetings in Auckland address the issues in East Timor.

Helen Clark said it was clear that the Indonesian authorities were not exercising proper control in east Timor.

"The APEC leaders' meeting is timely. There will be concern right around the Asia Pacific region about the deteriorating security in east Timor. The leaders' meeting is an excellent opportunity for it to be made known to Indonesia that the region expects it to uphold the result of the referendum and ensure that order is maintained.

"The National Party has long sought to confine the APEC agenda to narrow economic issues. That is inappropriate. APEC provides the only regular meeting ground for leaders from the whole region and its agenda should not be narrowly prescribed.

"It is to be hoped that the New Zealand Government will support the Canadian foreign minister's call and take this issue seriously," Helen Clark said.

Contact: Mark Watts (press secretary), 04 471 9477 or 025 422 734

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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>>