QUESTIONS FOR ORAL ANSWER

Thursday, 29 March 2001

Questions to Ministers

1. DAVID CUNLIFFE to the Minister of Energy: What is the Government doing to improve New Zealand's energy efficiency and give effect to the Government's commitment to a sustainable and efficient energy future?

2. RODNEY HIDE to the Minister of Finance: Why did the Government introduce the Maori Reserved Land Amendment Bill on Monday and advise the Business Committee that it intended to pass the bill through all stages this week, and what has now changed that the bill has been "scrapped"?

3. Rt Hon WYATT CREECH to the Minister of Health: Is it correct that the final report of the ministerial inquiry into the under-reporting of cervical smear abnormalities in the Gisborne region is already in the hands of the Ministry of Health; if so, why is the public release being delayed until 11 April?

4. JANET MACKEY to the Minister of Police: Has he recently received any information on the opportunities available for women within the New Zealand Police; if so, what does it say?

5. Hon Dr NICK SMITH to the Associate Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage: How does she reconcile the Minister's corrected answer to written question No 21052, with regard to "golden handshakes" by the Historic Places Trust, that "Two confidential settlements for termination/redundancy were made to former employees by the Historic Places Trust between 1 November 1999 and 24 November 2000 with a total value of $30,500." with her answer yesterday "The Historic Places Trust has told me that the information is correct, but that the other part of the settlement is confidential."?

6. CHRIS CARTER to the Minister of Immigration: What impact is business migration having on the New Zealand economy?

7. Hon TONY RYALL to the Minister of Police: What did he mean when he described the Police Association as giving "the impression of a bunch of complaining misinformation merchants"?

8. RON MARK to the Minister of Police: Is the information contained on the Police computers unable to be accessed under any circumstances by non-Police personnel?

9. JUDY KEALL to the Minister of Health: Has she received the Cull report on the review of the processes concerning adverse medical events; if so, what does it say?

10. BOB SIMCOCK to the Minister of Social Services and Employment: What advice has he received regarding the proposal for amalgamation of the Department of Work and Income, the Ministry of Social Policy and the Department of Child, Youth and Family Services into a single Department of Social Welfare, and what is his response to that advice?

11. JEANETTE FITZSIMONS to the Prime Minister: Will she convey outrage to President Bush over his unilateral abandonment of the Kyoto Protocol on climate change because of his refusal to commit the United States to reducing the climate-changing greenhouse gas emissions?

12. GAVAN HERLIHY to the Minister of Agriculture: Does he intend introducing a bill to give effect to the formation of the Global Dairy Company; if so, when?

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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>>