July 28, 2009

UPDATED: see TV inter­view here

The Mari­time Uni­on of New Zea­l­and says that actions of Social Devel­op­ment Min­is­ter Paula Ben­nett and her office in releas­ing private inform­a­tion of New Zea­l­and cit­izens is an attack of free­dom of speech.

Mari­time Uni­on spokes­per­son Vic­tor Bil­lot says the delib­er­ate release of the incomes of two solo moth­ers to the media was a sin­is­ter attempt to bully people into sub­mis­sion.

The two women had cri­ti­cized cuts to train­ing allow­ances that would make it more dif­fi­cult for them to study and improve their qual­i­fic­a­tions.

“The actions of the Min­is­ter and her office are not about provid­ing inform­a­tion for reasoned debate, it is clearly a tac­tic to fright­en and bully any­one who stands up and has an opin­ion.”