Questions For Oral Answer
Tuesday, 18 May 2004

QUESTIONS TO MINISTERS

1. MARC ALEXANDER to the Minister of Corrections: Has he decided to conduct a review of the Auckland Central Remand Prison; if so, why?

2. Dr DON BRASH to the Associate Minister of Education (Tertiary Education): Is he satisfied that all courses provided by New Zealand tertiary education institutions are of an acceptable standard; if so, why?

3. CLAYTON COSGROVE to the Minister of Finance: What reports has he received on the success of Kiwibank?

4. DEBORAH CODDINGTON to the Minister of Broadcasting: How does he justify the Government giving Television New Zealand Limited $12 million a year in charter funding when Television New Zealand Limited is reported to be prepared to pay twice the market rate for ABC News and the programme 20/20 just so it can wrest it off TV3?

5. Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS to the Leader of the House: Can he advise when the Government plans to introduce the civil union bill to the House?

6. LUAMANUVAO WINNIE LABAN to the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade: What reports, if any, has he received on changes to New Zealand’s nuclear-free legislation?

7. Hon TONY RYALL to the Minister of Corrections: What percentage of offenders actually complied with their parole orders and orders for post-release conditions in the past financial year, and how many people were recalled to prison for breaching their conditions?

8. Hon MARK GOSCHE to the Minister for Social Development and Employment: What recent reports has he received on the state of the labour market?

9. KATHERINE RICH to the Minister for Social Development and Employment: Is he confident that information and advice supplied to him by the Community Employment Group is correct; if so, why?

10. Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS to the Minister of Immigration: How many overstayers were in New Zealand as at 30 April 2004, and of those, which five nationalities in descending order were the most highly represented?

11. SIMON POWER to the Associate Minister of Education (Tertiary Education): Is he satisfied with the progress of the Tertiary Education Commission in its consultations with the tertiary education sector and associated agencies; if so, why?

12. JEANETTE FITZSIMONS to the Minister for the Environment: Has any assessment been undertaken of the environmental effects on the soil at the Whakamaru farm which held more than 2000 transgenic sheep, since those sheep were slaughtered; if not, why not?

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>>