QUESTIONS FOR ORAL ANSWER

Tuesday, 1 October 2002

Questions to Ministers

1. Hon BILL ENGLISH to the Prime Minister: Why will she not direct the Minister of Internal Affairs to release the Crown Law Office report on the leaky homes issue, given that she has said it was "very clear" there was no Crown liability, and does her statement cover Crown agencies such as the Building Industry Authority?

2. ROD DONALD to the Minister of Finance: Does he believe that the Government Superannuation Fund Authority has so far achieved its first objective "To implement and maintain a diversified, well managed investment portfolio which, over the long term, enhances the net worth of the Fund to the Crown, significantly outperforms a portfolio invested entirely in New Zealand Government Stock and has risk characteristics such that there is a low probability of a substantial adverse impact on the Crown accounts in any one year."; if so, why?

3. Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS to the Minister of Immigration: How many people who have sought immigrant, refugee or asylum status over the last three years have been declined and subsequently left the country and not withstanding the decision to decline, how many have remained in New Zealand?

4. TIM BARNETT to the Minister of Justice: What is the implication for the use of minimum non-parole periods following the Court of Appeal decision on the Hayden Brown case?

5. Dr WAYNE MAPP to the Minister of Internal Affairs: On what date was he first advised by officials from the Department of Internal Affairs or the Building Industry Authority that there were problems with leaky buildings, and what specific actions did he take as a result?

6. LUAMANUVAO WINNIE LABAN to the Minister of Social Services and Employment: What active steps is the Government taking to provide income support for unemployed students with family dependents?

7. Dr MURIEL NEWMAN to the Minister of Police: What crime statistics did he have for the 2000/2001 year when he put out his pre-election release claiming "New Zealand's overall crime rate had dropped 2.4 percent in the last 10 months", and why did he say "the figures showed a vastly different situation to current Opposition scaremongering that would have New Zealanders believe the crime rate is spinning out of control"?

8. STEVE CHADWICK to the Minister of Health: What new initiative has the Government introduced to improve access to primary health care?

9. DAIL JONES to the Minister of Health: What practical steps is she taking to ensure district health boards live within their incomes?

10. MIKE WARD to the Minister of Internal Affairs: Has he received any reports on the way reductions in funding from the Lottery Grants Board to water safety services and the New Zealand Mountain Safety Council could affect the quality of water and mountain safety services and the number of lives lost in mountain and water accidents; if so, what is his response?

11. Dr LYNDA SCOTT to the Minister of Health: Why has she decided to base the price people pay to go to the doctor on location, and not on individual patient need or ability to pay?

12. Hon PETER DUNNE to the Minister of Finance: Has he received any proposals from the board of Air New Zealand regarding the purchase of a shareholding by QANTAS?

ENDS

© Scoop Media

Gordon Campbell: On The Government’s Smokefree Laws Debacle

The most charitable explanation for National’s behaviour over the smokefree legislation is that they have dutifully fulfilled the wishes of the Big Tobacco lobby and then cast around – incompetently, as it turns out - for excuses that might sell this health policy U-turn to the public. The less charitable view is that the government was being deliberately misleading. Are we to think Prime Minister Christopher Luxon is a fool, or a liar? It seems rather early on in his term of office to be facing that unpleasant choice. Yet when Luxon (and senior MP Chris Bishop) tried to defend the indefensible with the same wildly inaccurate claim, there are not a lot of positive explanations left on the table.... More