Questions for Oral Answer
As At Tuesday, 17 February 2004

Questions to Ministers
1. DARREN HUGHES to the Minister of Civil Defence: How has civil defence reacted in the current emergencies?

2. Dr DON BRASH to the Prime Minister: Can she confirm that media reports on the weekend asserting that the Government would not be changing its policies in relation to Maori accurately represent her position; if so, why did she reportedly announce yesterday that the Government is evaluating the Reducing Inequalities policies to ensure that those policies are "thoroughly based on need"?

3. CLAYTON COSGROVE to the Minister of Finance: Has he received any suggestions regarding tax cuts; if so, how are these to be paid for?

4. Dr WAYNE MAPP to the Attorney-General: How does she distinguish between Maori customary title and Maori customary rights in the Government's foreshore and seabed proposals, given that last week she told the House that, "a customary right is a property right"?

5. JILL PETTIS to the Associate Minister of Health: What recent announcements has he made to advance the Coalition Government's National Drug Policy?

6. Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS to the Minister of Immigration: Can she explain her Associate Minister of Immigration's comments on the Holmes show last Wednesday night "with over 3,000 cases each year ... I will treat these ones very fairly as well", and at what cost are these cases to the taxpayer?

7. Hon ROGER SOWRY to the Minister of Labour: Will an employer's genuine preference to employ their employees on individual contracts be considered a genuine reason not to enter a collective contract under the Employment Relations Law Reform Bill; if not, why not?

8. KEITH LOCKE to the Minister of Immigration: Does she agree that deporting a 16 year old Sri Lankan girl who suffered years of rape and sexual abuse in her homeland is, in the words of the Commissioner for Children, "difficult to comprehend" and appears, as stated by Save the Children New Zealand, to be contrary to New Zealand's obligations under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child; if not, why not?

9. Hon Dr NICK SMITH to the Minister of Local Government: Is he satisfied that the new Treaty of Waitangi provisions of the Local Government Act 2002 and special provisions for councils to consult with Maori are working as intended?

10. JUDY TURNER to the Associate Minister for Social Development and Employment (CYF): Does she have confidence in the Department of Child, Youth and Family Services' ability to manage the approximately 4,700 children in its care at any one time?

11. RON MARK to the Minister of Corrections: Was Kevin Moana Jarden, described as a predatory paedophile, on home detention at the time that he raped, sodomised and sexually molested two girls, one of whom lived in the home in which he was placed?

12. STEPHEN FRANKS to the Associate Minister of Justice: Has she asked the Human Rights Commission whether Joris de Bres was acting jointly with the Chief Commissioner pursuant to sections 15(1)(d) and 16(c) of the Human Rights Act in making the comments reported as "De Bres slams Nat Maori policies", and does she have any concerns about Mr de Bres as a tax-funded appointee making the claims reported?

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>>