Questions for Oral Answer - Thursday, 2 December 2004

Questions to Ministers

1. GEORGINA BEYER to the Minister for Social Development and Employment: What is the Government doing to ensure people on Sickness and Invalid's Benefits have access to the rehabilitative services they need to enable them to return to work where possible?

2. GERRARD ECKHOFF to the Minister for Rural Affairs: Will the Government be making a decision on public access to waterways on private land before Christmas; if not, when exactly will this decision be made?

3. PETER BROWN to the Minister of Immigration: Can he explain the purpose of the Occupational Shortages List and how is it operated?

4. Hon TONY RYALL to the Minister for ACC: How many prison inmates are receiving counselling for trauma, and for how long has each been receiving such counselling?

5. LYNNE PILLAY to the Minister of Education: What progress is he making implementing the recommendations of the School Staffing Review Group?

6. ROD DONALD to the Prime Minister: Will she reconsider the commitment she made in Laos to negotiate a Free Trade Agreement with ASEAN countries, including Myanmar, in light of comments from CTU President, Ross Wilson, that there is a risk such deals will "permanently damage New Zealand's manufacturing base"; if not, why not?

7. Hon Dr NICK SMITH to the Associate Minister for the Environment: Why should the public have any confidence in the latest reforms to the Resource Management Act 1991 when the New Zealand Law Society has stated "Overall, far from a set of proposals which will reduce costs and delays being incurred under the RMA, the net result, from our collective experience, we have no doubt, will be worse for everyone - Councils, industry, community groups, and ordinary members of the public."?

8. DAVE HEREORA to the Associate Minister of Communications: What has the Government done to make telephone services available to deaf, hearing impaired and speech impaired people?

9. DAIL JONES to the Minister of Immigration: How many of the failed refugee status claimants who entered New Zealand between 1 January 2001 and 30 September 2004 with false, lost or destroyed travel documentation are still in New Zealand, and why?

10. Hon PETER DUNNE to the Prime Minister: Does she have confidence in her Associate Minister of Justice, Hon David Benson-Pope; if so, why?

11. RODNEY HIDE to the Minister of Finance: What percentage of full time workers are expected to pay some tax at the 39 cent tax rate in the 2004/2005 financial year?

12. Dr PAUL HUTCHISON to the Minister for ACC: Does she agree with ACC policy that has resulted in ACC declining to pay the helicopter expenses of rescuing a badly injured shepherd in Central Otago; if so, why?

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>>