QUESTIONS FOR ORAL ANSWER

Wednesday, 12 December 2001

Questions to Ministers

1. DAVID BENSON-POPE to the Associate Minister of Education (Tertiary Education): What reports has he received on participation in workplace learning?

2. Dr MURIEL NEWMAN to the Minister of Social Services and Employment: What specific evidence, if any, has he received that the work testing of sole parents has not led to more sole parents being employed and lower numbers on the domestic purposes benefit?

3. Hon ROGER SOWRY to the Minister of Health: How many cancer patients have been reimbursed the costs of radiation treatment received in Australia?

4. GRAHAM KELLY to the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade: What concerns has he raised with the Israeli ambassador concerning the continuing violence in the Middle East?

5. Dr LYNDA SCOTT to the Minister of Health: How much of the new health funding announced earlier this week will specifically go to Pharmac for the purchase of pharmaceuticals?

6. CLAYTON COSGROVE to the Minister for Trade Negotiations: What implications for New Zealand trade are there arising from the United States House of Representatives approving trade promotion authority for the Bush Administration?

7. Hon TONY RYALL to the Minister of Police: What is his response to the media report that states: "we have a Minister clashing with his uniformed legman over things as minute as traffic car livery. The [Minister's] line on using landlines rather than mobile phones has also rankled with Robinson's rank and file. The Minister's way of settling Robinson's hash is to snaffle more power over him through law changes that would make the thinning blue line a dotted one."?

8. Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS to the Minister of Fisheries: Do the people within his Ministry who have promoted the aquaculture moratorium include the person who was the chief executive of Challenger Scallop Enhancement Co Ltd, which opposed the expansion of aquaculture recently in Tasman and Golden Bays?

9. Hon GEORGINA TE HEUHEU to the Minister of Fisheries: Will he guarantee that all marine farmers who currently hold coastal permits will be able to continue operating after the moratorium proposed by the Resource Management (Aquaculture Moratorium) Amendment Bill is lifted?

10. NANAIA MAHUTA to the Minister of Education: What advice has the Government received on the development of a new policy framework for gifted and talented students?

11. IAN EWEN-STREET to the Minister for Biosecurity: Does he have complete confidence in the way the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry is managing the attempted eradication of painted apple moth in West Auckland; if so, why?

12. GAVAN HERLIHY to the Minister of Agriculture: Does he believe that signing the Kyoto Protocol will be positive for New Zealand's pastoral sector?

Questions to Members

1. KEITH LOCKE to the Chairperson of the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee: How many submissions has the committee received on the amendments to the Terrorism (Bombings and Financing) Bill?

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.

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>>