QUESTIONS FOR ORAL ANSWER

WEDNESDAY 9 MAY 2001

QUESTIONS TO MINISTERS

1. DAVID BENSON-POPE to the Associate Minister of Education (Tertiary Education): What initiatives are being undertaken to promote an innovative tertiary education system?

2. Rt Hon JENNY SHIPLEY to the Prime Minister: In light of her answer yesterday, can she at least indicate which month the Minister of Finance first told her that the $5.9 billion fiscal cap would be exceeded by $270 million?

3. H V ROSS ROBERTSON to the Minister for Small Business: What are the main aims of the Government’s recently announced policy to support business incubators?

4. Hon BILL ENGLISH to the Minister of Finance: When did he know that he was going to break his commitment to his $5.9 billion spending cap?

5. ANN HARTLEY to the Minister of Social Services and Employment: What steps have been taken to assist general practitioners to identify and report suspected child abuse?

6. Hon MAX BRADFORD to the Minister of Defence: What arrangements have been made in the past for air combat training for the New Zealand Army, and what arrangements have been made with the Australian or other Governments for air combat training for the Army in the future, now that the Skyhawks and Aermacchis will be scrapped?

7. MITA RIRINUI to the Associate Minister of Health: What action is the Government taking to address Maori health issues?

8. Dr WAYNE MAPP to the Attorney-General: Is the Government considering the appointment of Sir Geoffrey Palmer as the next President of the Court of Appeal; if not, why did her spokesman say she had “no comment” on the issue?

9. SUE KEDGLEY to the Minister for the Environment: Will she urgently undertake a comprehensive study of soil dioxin levels in residential areas around the Dow AgroSciences premises in New Plymouth in order to characterise and provide certainty as to the health risks, as recommended to the Taranaki Regional Council; if not, why not?

10. Dr MURIEL NEWMAN to the Prime Minister: When does she feel she will be able to provide the details requested in written questions Nos 4299, 4300, and 4387 to 4389, about her role in the merger of the Ministry of Social Policy and the Department of Work and Income?

11. Hon TONY RYALL to the Minister of Police: What reports has he received on likely trends in violent crime this year, in light of his previous comment “What is certain though is that as soon as police numbers are cut, crime will increase”?

12. PHILLIDA BUNKLE to the Minister of Conservation: What steps are being taken by the Government to improve New Zealand’s environment and conservation security?

ENDS

© 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>>