QUESTIONS FOR ORAL ANSWER

Wednesday, 2 May 2001

Questions to Ministers

1. Rt Hon JENNY SHIPLEY to the Minister of Health: Does she stand by her statement that "Cabinet agreed that no person who is entitled to the community services card before 1 April 2001 should lose his or her entitlement as a consequence of the increase in the New Zealand superannuation rate."?

2. KEVIN CAMPBELL to the Minister of Corrections: What support for building new regional correctional facilities has he received?

3. Hon ROGER SOWRY to the Minister of Health: Can she give an assurance that district health boards will not cut services following any funding announcements for district health boards in the forthcoming Budget?

4. MARK PECK to the Minister of Revenue: What reports has he received on changes to the company tax rate since 1990?

5. Rt Hon JENNY SHIPLEY to the Minister of Social Services and Employment: Who decided that the proposed new youth justice facility should be built at Mandeville instead of the previously selected site at Paparua, and what were the reasons for the change?

6. HELEN DUNCAN to the Minister of Education: When will the Government provide a formal response to the Rodger report on the Education Review Office?

7. Dr MURIEL NEWMAN to the Minister of State Services: In light of the fact that written evidence released under the Official Information Act on the merging of the Ministry of Social Policy and the Department of Work and Income shows that the possibility of a merger was first raised by the Prime Minister in her request to the State Services Commissioner for his views on their possible amalgamation, on what exact date and in what way did the Prime Minister make this request?

8. Hon PETER DUNNE to the Minister of Transport: What action has he taken, subsequent to the release of the Wellington Coroner's report into accidents on State Highway One between Pukerua Bay and Paekakariki, to ensure the Transmission Gully Highway is constructed?

9. Hon TONY RYALL to the Minister of Police: Will he ask the Commissioner of Police to use his powers under section 32 of the Police Act 1958 to suspend without pay convicted rapist Colin McLean, rather than continue paying him $1,000 a week salary pending the resolution of any appeal; if not, why not?

10. GRAHAM KELLY to the Minister of Labour: What progress has been made in establishing a Code of Good Faith to guide those in employment relationships under the Employment Relations Act?

11. Hon MAX BRADFORD to the Prime Minister: What evidence can she point to that New Zealand faces an "incredibly benign strategic environment", as she stated on the Face the Nation programme on 5 April 2001?

12. DAVID CUNLIFFE to the Minister of Communications: What changes are being proposed to the telecommunications regulatory environment in New Zealand?

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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.

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