Questions to Ministers

1. HELEN DUNCAN to the Minister of Education: What services to improve the quality of education are delivered centrally, and why?

2. GERRY BROWNLEE to the Prime Minister: What is her response to today's statement from the deputy chair of Te Whanau o Waipareira that Hon John Tamihere received the $195,000 golden handshake for "particular issues ... which he was expected to deliver on"?

3. MARC ALEXANDER to the Minister of Corrections: Is he satisfied with the outcomes of the PILLARS Family Programme run as part of Reintegrative Support Services to Inmates and their Families pilot; if so, why?

4. Hon BRIAN DONNELLY to the Associate Minister of Education (Tertiary Education): Is he able to follow through with his indication on 6 October 2004 to check whether Hon John Tamihere did say at a recent New Zealand Association of Private Education Providers function a comment to the effect that, if we want to find real rorts in the tertiary system, we need to look no further than the polytechnic sector; if so, what was the outcome of his investigations?

5. LIANNE DALZIEL to the Minister for the Environment: What recent steps has the Government taken to support the resource management processes of local government?

6. GERRY BROWNLEE to the Prime Minister: Has the Prime Minister received an assurance from Hon John Tamihere that he has done nothing to embarrass her or her Government; if so, on the evidence to date, does she believe that Mr Tamihere has lived up to such an assurance?

7. SUE KEDGLEY to the Minister for Biosecurity: Will he follow the recently-published advice of the scientist who was the lead author of the Wellington School of Medicine report into the health effects of the painted apple moth spray programme, that it would be prudent to avoid aerial spraying of biological insecticides, such as Foray 48B, over populated areas until the results of detailed follow-up of exposed populations are available; if not, why not?

8. Hon BILL ENGLISH to the Associate Minister of Education (Tertiary Education): Did the former Lincoln University vice-chancellor who resigned last year receive a golden handshake; if so, what was the value of that payment?

9. JILL PETTIS to the Associate Minister of Energy: What reports has he received indicating the success of Government initiatives to increase petroleum exploration?

10. RODNEY HIDE to the Prime Minister: Are Ministers required to make accurate disclosures of property, payments and gifts over $500 in the Government's Register of Ministers' Interests and Assets, and does Mr Tamihere's "nil return" in the register as at 31 December 2003 mean that he had no property and had received no payments or gifts that year?

11. JIM PETERS to the Minister of Local Government: Is he satisfied there was adequate preparation to ensure electors would be fully informed regarding the STV style of voting in the latest local body elections; if so, why have there been so many problems?

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>>