Buried Treasures: An old political trick

Governments frequently download sensitive or difficult material in the Christmas leadup in the hope that it will escape serious scrutiny during the media Silly Season.

It is an old political trick.

In this week-long series we turn the spotlight on some of that material - what we have called Buried Treasures - which escaped public notice. Today it's the Agent Orange apology - a two-page statement which served as an apology to Vietnam War veterans for their exposure to the deadly defoliant while serving their country. In our week-long series we will also shed more light on other controversial issues buried by the pre-Christmas avalanche: Cabinet minister Steve Maharey's expensive new social policy report - damned as weasel words by National; the report into the Christchurch prison's "goon squad" affair; Labour Department "fudging" over a television lending contract and the scuttling of a proposal for a register for organ donors.

The buried treasures we have chosen are not an exhaustive list, but just some of those that we have unearthed for greater public attention.