QUESTIONS FOR ORAL ANSWER

Thursday, 1 March 2001

Questions to Ministers

1. Hon BILL ENGLISH to the Minister of Finance: Does he stand by his answer to the House on 20 February that he would expect the confidentiality of State-owned enterprise business plans to be honoured?

2. Hon RICHARD PREBBLE to the Prime Minister: Will she be making the Electoral (Integrity) Amendment Bill a confidence issue; if not, why not?

3. TAITO PHILLIP FIELD to the Minister of Social Services and Employment: What action will the Government be taking on Judge Mick Brown's recommendations arising out of his review of the Department of Child, Youth and Family Services?

4. Hon MAX BRADFORD to the Minister of Defence: Does the Prime Minister's statement that reducing the flying hours of the Skyhawks should not be taken as a sign the Government is going to dump the planes altogether mean the Government is going to retain the air combat capability of the Royal New Zealand Air Force; if not, why not?

5. MAHARA OKEROA to the Minister in charge of Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations: What progress has the Government made in the settlement of claims under the Treaty of Waitangi?

6. SIMON POWER to the Minister of Social Services and Employment: What steps is he taking to reinstate the emergency unemployment benefit for students, as stated in his 1998 press release entitled "Labour would restore EUB to students"?

7. DAVID CUNLIFFE to the Minister of Commerce: What impact would the Government's proposed technical amendments to the Securities Regulations have on business?

8. BOB SIMCOCK to the Minister of Social Services and Employment: Did he receive a Ministry of Social Policy report last year which warned the Government that some unemployed or sick New Zealanders who "manage to struggle through and stay on in Australia will tend to drift down into an underclass status"; if so, does he believe such a situation would be acceptable?

9. DAVID BENSON-POPE to the Minister of Education: What reports has he received on the five-year property programme introduced to schools last year?

10. Dr PAUL HUTCHISON to the Minister of Corrections: Does he stand by the statement in his letter of 13 February 2001 that the proposed Auckland Regional Men's Prison would not proceed on either of the identified sites if there was "any likelihood of Wahi Tapu existing on either building platform"?

11. PETER BROWN to the Minister of Labour: Is she considering proposing amending legislation to remove restrictions on retail trading during Easter Sundays in places such as Rotorua, Tauranga and Mt Maunganui; if so, will it be introduced before this coming Easter?

12. SUE KEDGLEY to the Minister of Health: As the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations now considers more than 100 countries which imported potentially contaminated meat and bone meal from Europe in the eighties to be at risk from BSE, is the Government planning to extend its ban on food containing beef products to other at-risk countries from which we import food; if not, why not?

© Scoop Media

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>>