QUESTIONS FOR ORAL ANSWER

Thursday, 7 November 2002

Questions to Ministers

1. Hon BILL ENGLISH to the Prime Minister: What were the items on the agenda provided by the then Chairman of Television New Zealand, Dr Armstrong, for her dinner at Vinnies with him, the former Prime Minister of Australia, Paul Keating and Kristy McDonald QC?

2. LUAMANUVAO WINNIE LABAN to the Minister of Social Services and Employment: What recent reports has he received on the state of the labour market?

3. Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS to the Minister of Immigration: Further to oral question No 8 yesterday, and subsequent supplementary questions, is it her view that she cannot act in the Muhammad Saidi case until she has evidence; if so, what further evidence does she need?

4. HELEN DUNCAN to the Minister of Education: What support is available to assist communities to establish early childhood education centres?

5. Hon BILL ENGLISH to the Prime Minister: Following newspaper reports that Dr Armstrong paid for the dinner at Vinnies with his Television New Zealand credit card, what inquiries, if any, has she requested officials to undertake to ensure that public monies are spent in accordance with the "new standards" she spoke of before the 1999 election, when she said "The Labour Government will set new standards - both in terms of behaviour and performance - so that we govern for the people and are accountable to them."?

6. PAUL ADAMS to the Minister of Communications: Under its Kiwi Share obligation, is Telecom obliged to install new telephone connections for rural customers at rates equivalent to those that were in place in December 2001 when the updated agreement was signed with the Government?

7. PETER BROWN to the Minister of Transport: Is he concerned that seven foreign-owned shipping companies operating on the trans-Tasman run are allegedly all increasing freight rates by way of collusion; if so, what is he prepared to do about it?

8. Dr LYNDA SCOTT to the Minister of Health: When she assured the Health Committee on 25 September 2002 that mental health funding is one part of health funding that could not be used for other purposes, was she aware of the audit by the Ministry of Health into the alleged misspending of money targeted for mental health?

9. RODNEY HIDE to the Minister for Industry and Regional Development: Is he satisfied that Industry New Zealand is applying grants to business in a manner consistent with Government policy; if so, on what basis is he satisfied?

10. NANDOR TANCZOS to the Minister of Corrections: As construction cost estimates for a new prison at Ngawha have risen from $40-$80 million in 1999 to $105 million in November 2002, what level of cost increase or cost uncertainty would cause the Government to abandon plans for a prison on this site?

11. PHIL HEATLEY to the Minister of Fisheries: Does he accept that recent High Court and Court of Appeal judgments, the State Service Commissioner and the Serious Fraud Office have all raised issues of fairness or poor management relating to scampi allocation, and will he undertake to further delay gazetting of scampi into the Quota Management System until these issues are resolved?

12. DAVID CUNLIFFE to the Minister for the Environment: What has been the outcome of money provided out of the Sustainable Management Fund to the Guardians of Fiordland's Fisheries and Marine Environment by the Ministry for the Environment?

ENDS

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