Questions To Ministers

1.Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS to the Prime Minister: Why did he say last week in relation to SkyCity "Its architects designed such a thing, realised they needed more land, worked out who owned the land, and approached Television New Zealand"?

2. DAVID SHEARER to the Prime Minister: Does he stand by his statement in relation to asset sales "I spent my life starting in investment banking. I know how these things work"?

3. PAUL GOLDSMITH to the Minister of Finance: What reports has he received on the economy?

4.GRANT ROBERTSON to the Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment: Does he agree with the Prime Minister "the number one thing New Zealanders need to rely on is that they have a job, so they can provide for their families"; if so, how many New Zealanders are currently unemployed?

5. Dr RUSSEL NORMAN to the Prime Minister: Does he stand by his statement reported in the Southland Times in June 2011 that, "At the moment companies like Solid Energy are growth companies and we want them to expand in areas like lignite conversion"?

6. Peseta SAM LOTU-IIGA to the Minister for Social Development: What impact have the Government's welfare reforms had to date?

7. Hon DAVID PARKER to the Minister for Economic Development: In light of the view of the Deputy Auditor-General that "… the work through to August 2009 was … reasonable and careful"; did the Prime Minister's intervention in August 2009 result in an approach that was no longer reasonable and careful?

8. COLIN KING to the Minister for Primary Industries: What progress can he report on increasing New Zealand's economic and environmental performance through investment in irrigation?

9. Hon CLAYTON COSGROVE to the Minister for State Owned Enterprises: Does he agree with his predecessor Hon Simon Power that in 2009 the Government was "looking carefully" at the make-up of SOE boards and "commercial expertise is at the forefront of our minds"?

10. MOJO MATHERS to the Associate Minister of Transport: What steps, if any, has he taken to ensure that KiwiRail does not skimp on safety for people with disabilities?

11. CHRIS HIPKINS to the Minister of Education: Does she stand by all of her statements?

12. JACQUI DEAN to the Minister of Internal Affairs: What announcements has he made recently regarding New Zealand companies securing key government ICT contracts?

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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