Questions for Oral Answer
As At Thursday, 17 June 2004

Questions to Ministers

1. Hon BILL ENGLISH to the Minister of Education: Does he stand by his answer to written question number 1735 (2004), that if the ethnicity factor of school decile-funding was replaced, "differences would be minor"; if not, why not?

2. DARREN HUGHES to the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Has he received any reports suggesting that decisions on New Zealand's nuclear free status should be determined by other nations rather than by ourselves?

3. KATHERINE RICH to the Associate Minister for Social Development and Employment (CYF): Does she stand by her earlier statements that she had "checked the file" and conducted "extensive searching of the available records" in relation to complaints about medical examinations at the Glenelg Health Camp prior to answering oral and written questions about the role of the Ministry and the Minister; if so, does she stand by her answers to those questions?

4. STEVE CHADWICK to the Minister of Health: What is the Government doing to address the continuing meningococcal epidemic?

5. RON MARK to the Minister of Police: Has he received any recent reports indicating police are insufficiently resourced; if so, what does he intend to do about this?

6. LARRY BALDOCK to the Associate Minister of Justice: What is the distinction between a civil union, as proposed, and a marriage conducted in a non-religious context?

7. JEANETTE FITZSIMONS to the Minister of Finance: Why did the Budget Economic and Fiscal Update assume the price of oil would ease back to US$19 a barrel, and is that assumption now being revised?

8. GERRY BROWNLEE to the Minister in charge of Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations: Why was there a series of meetings between representatives of Tainui iwi and Government ministers and officials regarding the tribe's historical Treaty of Waitangi claims following the introduction of the Foreshore and Seabed Bill, when there had been no previous meetings since October 2003, and what was the outcome of those meetings?

9. HELEN DUNCAN to the Minister of Education: What steps is he taking to make information communications technology more available to teachers?

10. BERNIE OGILVY to the Associate Minister of Education (Tertiary Education): Does the Government's decision to subject married students under 25 years of age to parental income testing for the purposes of assessing eligibility for student allowances reflect the view that they are still financially dependent on their parents?

11. MOANA MACKEY to the Minister of Justice: Does New Zealand face a large problem of children internally trafficked for the purposes of sexual exploitation?

12. STEPHEN FRANKS to the Minister of Justice: What rights did he have in mind when he promoted the provisions of the Parole Act 2002 that require the Parole Board to uphold victims' rights?

ENDS

© Scoop Media

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>>