Questions to Ministers

1. GRANT ROBERTSON to the Prime Minister: Does he agree that the Prime Minister certainly moved to the extent of saying that he himself offered regulatory relief, if so, were other bidders to build a convention centre in Auckland offered regulatory relief?

2. DAVID BENNETT to the Minister of Finance: What reports has he received on rising household incomes?

3. Hon DAVID PARKER to the Minister for Economic Development: Was a document summarising the process involving SkyCity and the proposed convention centre, as referred to at paragraphs 3.17 and 3.18 of the report from the Deputy Auditor General, sent by MED or the Ministry of Tourism via email to DPMC on 12 November 2009, and did that email record Treasury advice that advice should be sought from the Office of the Auditor General to determine the probity of that process?

4. Hon TARIANA TURIA to the Minister of Internal Affairs: Will he agree to follow the lead of many of our major trading partners including Canada, Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom and China, and introduce a ten–year passport option, and if not, why not?

5. Hon MARYAN STREET to the Minister of Health: What reports has he received about the estimated revenue to be generated or savings to be made from the increase in prescription charges from $3 to $5 an item?

6. Peseta SAM LOTU-IIGA to the Associate Minister for Social Development: Why do the welfare fraud reforms he announced yesterday focus so heavily on relationship fraud?

7. Dr RUSSEL NORMAN to the Minister for Economic Development: Did the Minister for Economic Development sight the request for Expressions of Interest for Growing New Zealand's share of the International Business Events Market and Strengthening the National Network of Convention Centres document before it was issued on 19 May 2010; and was it shown to other Ministers?

8. CHRIS AUCHINVOLE to the Minister of Labour: What progress can he report on the Government's Pike River Implementation Plan?

9. BRENDAN HORAN to the Minister for Primary Industries: Does he support new foreign investment in the New Zealand dairy sector?

10. Dr JACKIE BLUE to the Minister of Health: What reports has he received on the Government's Better Public Service target for immunisation?

11. CHRIS HIPKINS to the Minister Responsible for Novopay: What steps, if any, has he taken to ensure that individuals and schools are not financially disadvantaged as a result of the Novopay debacle?

12. KANWALJIT SINGH BAKSHI to the Minister of Civil Defence: What advice has she received regarding the response of the New Zealand Civil Defence Emergency Management system to the 6 February 2013 tsunami threat?

ENDS

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Arguably Reassuring: Inspector-General Finds GCSB "Arguably" Legal

Of the 88 individuals:

• 15 cases involving 22 individuals did not have any information intercepted by GCSB.

• another four cases involving five individuals were the subjects of a New Zealand Security Intelligence Service warrant and the GCSB assisted in the execution of the warrants. The Inspector-General is of the view that there were arguably no breaches and the law is unclear.

• the Bureau only provided technical assistance which did not involve interception of communications, involving three of the individuals, so no breach occurred.

• the remaining cases involved the collection of metadata, and the Inspector-General formed the view that there had arguably been no breach, noting once again that the law is unclear.
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