Questions For Oral Answer

QUESTIONS TO MINISTERS

1. DAVID PARKER to the Minister of Finance: What recent reports has he received on growth in the regions?

2. Hon RICHARD PREBBLE to the Prime Minister: When did she decide that New Zealand reaching the top half of the OECD by 2010 was “totally unrealistic”, and what changed her mind given that she previously stated “Could we be in the top half of the OECD in 10 years if we set our mind to it? I think we could.”?

3. CLAYTON COSGROVE to the Minister of Energy: What is the Government doing to encourage the development of alternative forms of power generation in New Zealand?

4. KEITH LOCKE to the Prime Minister: Does she intend to convey a strong anti-war message to Australian Prime Minister John Howard during his planned visit; if so, why did she say “I don’t think we are going to see either endeavouring to persuade the other of the merits of the other’s approach,”?

5. MAHARA OKEROA to the Minister of Maori Affairs: What approaches is the Government taking to promote and support Maori language?

6. Hon BILL ENGLISH to the Prime Minister: Further to her response last week that she did not stand by her foreword in the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor: New Zealand 2001 in which she said that “these results are greatly encouraging of our goal of economic transformation and our return to the top half of the OECD ratings by 2011”; when did she decide that the 2011 target is “totally unrealistic”?

7. MURRAY SMITH to the Minister of Commerce: Since assuming responsibility for the Building Industry Authority on 1 January 2003, how many meetings, if any, has she had with its Chief Executive and what was the substance of those meetings?

8. Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS to the Minister of Immigration: With respect to the Japanese academy where a student was found dead last week, how did he and his colleagues get into New Zealand and remain here without the approval of that academy by the Ministry of Education and “set up outside any New Zealand legal-type arrangements” according to Hon Trevor Mallard, when authority for their entry had to have been given by the New Zealand Immigration Service?

9. SIMON POWER to the Minister of Youth Affairs: Is the Ministry of Youth Affairs carrying out any work in the area of Maori youth welfare dependency; if not, why not?

10. ROD DONALD to the Minister of Finance: Would amending the Overseas Investment Act 1973 in order to meet the Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society’s request for the Government to ban sales of substantial areas of coastal land to foreigners contravene General Agreement on Trade in Services’ commitments made by a previous Government; if not, why not?

11. Dr DON BRASH to the Minister of Finance: Does he agree with the Prime Minister’s statement that the reforms implemented by the Government over the 1990s left “the poorest New Zealanders an estimated twenty to twenty five per cent worse off”, as stated in her speech to the Eighth Women’s Conference of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions; if so, what evidence does he have to support such a claim?

12. NANAIA MAHUTA to the Associate Minister Foreign Affairs and Trade (Official Development Assistance): What recent decisions has she made about funding New Zealand non-governmental organisations which work in emergency situations?

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