QUESTIONS FOR ORAL ANSWER

TUESDAY 14 AUGUST 2001

QUESTIONS TO MINISTERS

1. MARK PECK to the Minister of Finance: What recent economic data has he received and what do they say about the state of the New Zealand economy?

2. Rt Hon JENNY SHIPLEY to the Minister for State Owned Enterprises: What reports has he asked for from State-owned electricity companies to assure the public and himself that no State-owned enterprise is profiteering from the power crisis, and what do those reports say?

3. GRANT GILLON to the Minister for Industry and Regional Development: Has he received any reports which positively support regional development?

4. Hon TONY RYALL to the Prime Minister: Why has she reportedly pointed the finger at the Crown Company Monitoring Advisory Unit for leaking reports to Rodney Hide, when the independent investigator, David Oughton, has said that the search would take a further 10 days and he had a 50:50 chance of tracing the leak?

5. HELEN DUNCAN to the Minister of Education: How many additional teachers will be available in schools as a result of staffing increases announced earlier in the month and how will these staff be allocated?

6. Hon BILL ENGLISH to the Minister for State Owned Enterprises: When did the Chairman of New Zealand Post Ltd assure him that he had sought board approval for the decision to issue proceedings against Hon Richard Prebble, and why did he seek that assurance?

7. Hon RICHARD PREBBLE to the Minister of Labour: Did Ms Susan Bathgate apply for the job as a member of the Employment Relations Authority; if so, was she interviewed?

8. DIANNE YATES to the Associate Minister of Education (Tertiary Education): What evidence is there that school-into-work bridging programmes provide opportunities for students to acquire qualifications?

9. Hon PETER DUNNE to the Associate Minister of Justice: What action will the Government take on the recommendations of the Report of the MMP Review Committee’s Inquiry into MMP?

10. Dr the Hon LOCKWOOD SMITH to the Minister of Finance: Does he stand by his comment in regard to the “People’s Bank” that “The new bank will have to stand or fall on its commercial merits.”?

11. MARTIN GALLAGHER to the Minister of Broadcasting: What is the Government doing to promote the playing of New Zealand music on commercial radio?

12. Hon ROGER SOWRY to the Minister of Health: Has she or the Ministry of Health responded to the Lakes District Health Board’s refusal to sign the hospital arm component of the Crown Funding Agreement; if not, why not?

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>>