Today's questions for oral answer by Ministers. Paraphrased answers to these questions will be posted in the Headlines wire shortly after 3pm.

QUESTIONS FOR ORAL ANSWER
Thursday, 29 June 2000

Questions to Ministers

1. Rt Hon. Wyatt Creech to the Prime Minister: Why does she believe it was all right for Mr Dover Samuels to be Minister of Maori Affairs for six months while his past was not generally known, but not all right once the information was increasingly public?

2. Chris Carter to the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade: What information did he receive on his recent visit to South Korea on the implications for New Zealand of this month's summit between President Kim Dae-jung and Chairman Kim Jong-il?

3. Rodney Hide to the Minister of Finance: What responsibility does he take for the expected drop in business confidence that has been reported in the Independent Business Weekly as likely to be at the "lowest level in the (National Bank's) survey's history" with its Chief Economist saying the June results due out tomorrow were "horrendous" and "diabolical"?

4. Hon. Bill English to the Minister of Finance: How does he rate the success of his Government's bridge building with business given the expectation of "horrendous" and "diabolical" findings in the National Bank business confidence survey to be released tomorrow?

5. Keith Locke to the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade: What is the Government's position on the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee's recommendation to the House last September requesting "the Government to convey to the Chinese Government New Zealand's request for negotiations with the Dalai Lama or his representatives to take place on autonomy arrangements for Tibet"?

6. Bob Simcock to the Minister for Economic Development: Was Mr Bill Gallagher correct when he was reported as saying in this morning's Dominion that the Government is frightened of big business, promoting smaller fry such as "possum pluckers" instead?

7. Taito Phillip Field to the Minister of Health: What steps is the Government taking to improve immunisation rates?

8. Dr the Hon. Lockwood Smith to the Minister of Labour: With the slump in business and consumer confidence attributable in part to Government policy, what changes is she proposing to the Employment Relations Bill that will restore confidence and lead to businesses staying and investing in New Zealand?

9. Janet Mackey to the Minister of Police: Did the Budget provide funding for youth crime initiatives; if so, what are those initiatives?

10. Hon. Dr Nick Smith to the Prime Minister: Does she still feel that you "couldn't fit a slice of bread between us" when referring to the policies of her Government and the Blair Government?

11. Nanaia Mahuta to the Associate Minister of Education (Tertiary Education): What advice has he recently received on the student loan scheme?

12. Stephen Franks to the Associate Minister of Education (Tertiary Education): In addition to Massey and Victoria Universities, which have publicly announced looming deficits and staff cuts, what are the other six tertiary institutions in financial difficulty and what advice has he received on the impact of competition on tertiary institutions?

Thursday, 29 June 2000

Questions to Members

1. Hon. Richard Prebble to the Chairperson of the Employment and Accident Insurance Legislation Committee: Given the Minister of Labour's statement that it was over to the select committee whether to allow people who gave evidence on the Employment Relations Bill to comment on the effect of any amendments, can he advise whether the committee will enable those who gave evidence to comment on the effect of any amendments?

ENDS

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