Questions for Oral Answer
As At Tuesday, 7 December 2004

Questions to Ministers

1. DAIL JONES to the Prime Minister: Is she confident that New Zealand law is sufficient to ensure our national security is protected; if not, what action is she willing to take to rectify this situation?

2. MURRAY SMITH to the Associate Minister of Justice: Is the Government intending to introduce legislation to allow same sex couples to adopt children; if so, why?

3. Dr DON BRASH to the Prime Minister: Can she confirm that she has refused to rule out tax cuts before the next election, as reported in The Press; if so, why?

4. SUE BRADFORD to the Associate Minister of Health: Does she accept that there is "evidence of chronic underfunding of the aged-care and disability sectors", as reported by the Health Committee; if so, what is she doing about it?

5. Hon BILL ENGLISH to the Associate Minister of Education (Tertiary Education): Does he stand by his August statement regarding enrolments at Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology that "the commission will now be evaluating those enrolments, and I hope we arrive at a situation where the polytechnic does pay more money back."; if so, what progress has been made with that evaluation over the last four months?

6. NANAIA MAHUTA to the Associate Minister of Education (Tertiary Education): What recent reports has he received on the implementation of the Government's Modern Apprenticeships programme?

7. RODNEY HIDE to the Minister of Finance: By how much has the average household income after tax increased in the four years since the 1999/2000 financial year, and what does this after-tax increase equate to when adjusted for inflation?

8. Hon MARK GOSCHE to the Minister of Transport: What is being done to ease congestion on Auckland's motorways?

9. Hon TONY RYALL to the Minister of Justice: What feedback has he received on the restructuring of Victim Support?

10. PETER BROWN to the Minister of Transport: What issues, if any, will be presented to the people of Tauranga for consultation with regard to any potential tolling of the Tauranga Harbour link project, and what is the expected timeframe for any such consultation?

11. LYNNE PILLAY to the Minister of Education: What steps is he taking to improve the use of information communication technology in teaching?

12. SUE KEDGLEY to the Minister for the Environment: Will she be heeding the call of the Sustainability Council for a greatly expanded national fund to pay for the clean-up of historic contaminated sites, as well as a national register of sites and definitions of standards; 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>>