Paraphrased answers to these questions will be posted to Scoop's Headlines wire shortly after questions conclude around 3pm.

Question 1.

Dr Wayne Mapp to the Treasurer:

Q: How much did work stoppages cost the country in 1990?

Question 2.

Hon. Dr Michael Cullen to the Treasurer:

Q: Has he received any reports from the Treasury indicating that plans to reduce income tax rates over the next three years should prudently include a combination of some or all of:

Q: expenditure reductions; removing the tax-favoured status of some activities; and/or increasing the rate of goods and services tax; if so, which of these options is Government policy?

Question 3.

Belinda Vernon to the Minister for Enterprise and Commerce:

Q: How many jobs have been created since 1990?

Question 4.

Hon. Jim Sutton to the Treasurer:

Q: Will the $15 million that has been earmarked to the Minister of Maori Affairs for Maori initiatives in return for support for tax cuts be calculated as part of increased social spending to match the tax cuts commitment he made earlier or will it be additional expenditure?

Question 5.

Gerry Brownlee to the Minister of Education:

Q: What initiatives are there in the Bright Future package to reward and encourage our best and brightest secondary students?

Question 6.

Sandra Lee to the Prime Minister:

Q: What reports has she received about the ability of her Government to meet social and economic needs, homelessness, poverty and increasing disparities of wealth in Auckland?

Question 7.

Patricia Schnauer to the Minister for Enterprise and Commerce:

Q: Has he received any reports regarding the impact on workers covered by collective agreements if the negotiating right was removed from employers and employees and given exclusively to trade unions?

Question 8.

Steve Maharey to the Associate Minister of Health:

Q: Does he accept that the evidence of the recent survey of nutrition which states that fourteen percent of New Zealanders run out of food because of lack of money shows that there is significant poverty in New Zealand; if so, when will the Government put in place programmes to relieve this poverty?

Question 9.

Warren Kyd to the Minister for Food, Fibre, Biosecurity and Border Control:

Q: What part does agriculture play in the knowledge economy?

Question 10.

Hon. Annette King to the Minister of Health:

Q: As Ascot Integrated Hospital had no medical service record when it was awarded the orthopaedic contract by the Health Funding Authority, what steps did the Health Funding Authority take to monitor the performance of Ascot Integrated Hospital and is he satisfied these steps were sufficient to ensure all public patients received a safe and quality service?

Question 11.

Gilbert Myles to the Prime Minister:

Q: Will the Government be taking any action in reply to the recommendations, including changes to local government legislation, contained in the Auckland Region Mayoral Forum Pre-General Election Statement?

Question 12.

Mr Frank Grover to the Minister of Justice:

Q: As British Home Office figures state that New Zealand now has the world's second highest violent crime rate after South Africa, and there are reported clear links between alcohol abuse and violent crime in this country, what measures is the Government taking to reduce the dangers arising from those links?

© Scoop Media

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>>