QUESTIONS FOR ORAL ANSWER

Thursday, 5 April 2001

Questions to Ministers

1. Dr MURIEL NEWMAN to the Associate Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage: Has the Historic Places Trust had its lawyers write to an ex-employee, threatening legal action if she breached confidentiality; if so, how does she reconcile this with her statement that the confidentiality clause was "there to protect the employees"?

2. TAITO PHILLIP FIELD to the Minister of Social Services and Employment: How will the Government be involving local people in decisions regarding the delivery of community social services?

3. Rt Hon JENNY SHIPLEY to the Prime Minister: Does she stand by her description of the social security agreement with Australia as a "win-win" for both countries?

4. Hon BRIAN DONNELLY to the Minister of Education: Is a person who has been bankrupt ineligible to serve as a member of a school Board of Trustees, yet a convicted child sex offender may do so; if so, why?

5. Hon ROGER SOWRY to the Minister of Health: Is it correct that the Auckland District Health Board is going to cut cancer treatment services at Auckland Hospital; if so, what assurances can she give to Auckland cancer patients that they will be treated within clinical guidelines?

6. GRAHAM KELLY to the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Who did he meet during his visit to Washington D.C. this week and what were the key issues in his discussions?

7. Rt Hon WYATT CREECH to the Minister of Health: Has she or the Ministry of Health received a draft or final copy of the report of the ministerial inquiry into the under-reporting of cervical smear abnormalities in the Gisborne region; if so, when was it received?

8. RUTH DYSON to the Minister of Commerce: Why is the Government seeking private sector help in its attempts to reduce compliance costs for business?

9. Hon ROGER SOWRY to the Minister of Health: Would a 0.5 percent increase in public hospital funding for the upcoming 2001-02 financial year represent a funding cut in real terms?

10. DAMIEN O'CONNOR to the Minister for Rural Affairs: What progress has been made to date with the sustainable farming fund?

11. SUE KEDGLEY to the Minister of Health: Will the House have the opportunity to debate and vote on proposed changes to the Australia New Zealand Food Authority, which would create a new structure for the regulation of New Zealand food; if not, why not?

12. Dr the Hon LOCKWOOD SMITH to the Minister of Labour: When she told the House on 3 April that the mediator's draft report had been distributed to the parties for their input, did both the Amalgamated Stevedores Union and the Waterfront Workers Union receive a copy of the report, or just the Waterfront Workers Union?

Questions to Members

1. PENNY WEBSTER to the Chairperson of the Commerce Committee: When do submissions close on the Electricity Industry Bill?

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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>>