Questions for Oral Answer

As At Tuesday, 23 March 2004

Questions to Ministers

1. LYNNE PILLAY to the Minister of Education: What steps is he taking to ensure that all children develop basic literacy skills?

2. RODNEY HIDE to the Minister of Corrections: What is the spending breakdown for the $1.3 million spent consulting iwi over the new Spring Hill prison in the north Waikato, and how many Maori were consulted?

3. PAUL ADAMS to the Minister of Local Government: Is the Government considering alternative sources of funding for local authorities besides property rating; if so, what alternatives has it identified so far?

4. Dr WAYNE MAPP to the Associate Minister of Justice: Will Crown ownership of the foreshore and seabed include a Maori customary title, given her statement that "Maori already have customary title over the whole coastline."?

5. SUE KEDGLEY to the Minister of Health: What new action is the Government taking in response to the study of almost 900 Hawkes Bay school children which reveals that the number of obese children has more than trebled in the past 11 years?

6. STEVE CHADWICK to the Minister of Health: Has she received any reports on nutrition in New Zealand?

7. Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS to the Prime Minister: Is the Government reviewing any previous applications for residency or citizenship due to security concerns; if so, how many?

8. H V ROSS ROBERTSON to the Associate Minister for Social Development and Employment: What initiatives is the Ministry of Social Development undertaking to assist the retail industry meet its need for skilled employees?

9. Hon ROGER SOWRY to the Minister of Labour: Who are the "others", apart from the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions, he was referring to when he stated in the House last week that he had received a range of reports from "officials and others" stating that the Employment Relations Law Reform Bill will help achieve the Government's stated goal of returning New Zealand to the top half of the OECD per capita income tables?

10. BARBARA STEWART to the Minister of Health: How many people infected with tuberculosis are currently patients at Auckland Hospital, and, if there are any, how many of those patients were born in New Zealand?

11. Hon TONY RYALL to the Minister of Police: Has he seen the reports of the Police National Road Safety Manager stating, whereas police previously had discretion to consider circumstances such as weather and traffic conditions, they would now be encouraged to ticket anyone driving above the speed limit; if so, why is this move being adopted across all police districts as stated by Superintendent Fitzgerald?

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>>