QUESTIONS FOR ORAL ANSWER

Tuesday, 11 September 2001

Questions to Ministers

1. Rt Hon JENNY SHIPLEY to the Prime Minister: In her opinion, has any action or lack of action by her Government contributed to the problems now facing Air New Zealand and Ansett?

2. GRANT GILLON to the Minister for Industry and Regional Development: Has he received reports of positive economic conditions in regional New Zealand; if so, what do these advise?

3. BELINDA VERNON to the Minister of Finance: Does he stand by his decision to state publicly that "Air New Zealand's position is worse than anybody anticipated when we first started looking at it" and that the Government would not "pour money into a failing business", and how did he expect the markets and media to respond to those comments?

4. NANAIA MAHUTA to the Minister of Education: When was the budget for school support services, the major source of professional advice and support to principals and teachers, last increased?

5. Dr WAYNE MAPP to the Minister of Defence: What is his response to Air Marshal Carey Adamson's comments that there was considerable distrust between the Army, Navy and Air Force, and that this distrust was the worst he has seen in 40 years?

6. CHRIS CARTER to the Minister of Immigration: What advice has she received about the anticipated arrival of the Tampa asylum seekers and what arrangements has the New Zealand Immigration Service made with respect to the media reporting of their arrival?

7. Hon RICHARD PREBBLE to the Prime Minister: When and how did she first become aware that the Air New Zealand subsidiary Ansett Australia was losing over a million dollars a day?

8. Hon PETER DUNNE to the Minister of Defence: How will the results of the State Services Commissioner's and the Judge Advocate General's inquiries into the leaking of documents and the conduct of defence personnel feed into the major review of defence accountabilities and structural arrangements?

9. Hon Dr NICK SMITH to the Minister for State Owned Enterprises: Why has he repeatedly declined to release the financial reports he has received on the additional profits made by the Government-owned electricity companies during the course of this winter's electricity crisis?

10. RICK BARKER to the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade: What reports has he had on the integrity of the East Timor election process?

11. Hon ROGER SOWRY to the Minister of Health: What is her response to the Director of Surgical Affairs in New Zealand for the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons, Dr John Simpson, when he said last week "This is an appalling state of affairs in a country like New Zealand and it is simply unacceptable that women are being asked to wait 5-6 months for vital cancer therapy."?

12. CLAYTON COSGROVE to the Minister for Information Technology: What is the Government doing to progress the e-commerce strategy launched late last year?

ENDS

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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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