Questions For Oral Answer - Wednesday, 17 October 2007
Questions to Ministers
1. Hon BILL ENGLISH to the Minister of Finance: Does he stand by his statement regarding tax cuts in Australia in 2005
that “Australian taxpayers earning up to $58,000 a year receive a measly $6 a week”?
2. SUE MORONEY to the Minister of Education: What steps is he taking to encourage more young people into trades-related
careers?
3. Hon TONY RYALL to the Minister of Health: How many category C cancer patients have been sent to Australia for
radiotherapy treatment this year, specified by cancer treatment centre?
4. PETER BROWN to the Minister of Immigration: Does he stand by his statement that “We must always ensure capable Kiwis
get jobs first. Immigration should never substitute foreign for domestic labour because it is cheaper.”; if so, why?
5. GERRY BROWNLEE to the Minister for State Owned Enterprises: Does he consider buildings or wholly-owned subsidiaries
of State-owned enterprises to be taxpayer-owned assets; if not, why not?
6. DARIEN FENTON to the Minister of Health: Has he received any reports of community initiatives which have helped in
the fight against obesity and contributed to better health outcomes?
7. JUDITH COLLINS to the Minister for Social Development and Employment: How does he respond to the concerns of the
Serious Fraud Office in relation to the Wayne Patterson benefit fraud investigation that “The role adopted by the
Ministry as the investigator, the prosecutor, and the political adviser on this significant fraud in which it was also
the victim does raise perception issues that would have been avoided had the Police or the Serious Fraud Office been
responsible for the investigation and the prosecution.”?
8. CHRISTOPHER FINLAYSON to the Minister of Justice: Does he agree with Hon Peter Dunne regarding the Electoral Finance
Bill that “It is little wonder that groups including the Human Rights Commission and the Law Society have condemned the
bill as a massive attack on free speech.”; if not, why not?
9. LESLEY SOPER to the Minister for State Owned Enterprises: What reports has he received on the benefits of
diversification in the State-owned enterprises portfolio?
10. CHESTER BORROWS to the Minister of Police: Does she stand by her statement that the Cerno Report on Police Standards
and Assessment Practice “provided assurances that the Police are training recruits to an acceptable standard, and that
police are capable of doing their jobs when all their training has been completed.”; if so, does she have the same level
of confidence that the standard of recruits being accepted into Police College has not declined?
11. RODNEY HIDE to the Minister of Finance: Does he stand by his statement that Mr David Henderson, or “Hendo” is “one
of the biggest and nastiest tax evaders in this country … who ran the sex industry in Christchurch and avoided tax
thereon” and has he any evidence to support his claims?
12. PANSY WONG to the Minister for ACC: Does she stand by her statement made during debate on the Injury Prevention,
Rehabilitation, and Compensation Amendment Bill that “Business people – whatever their company structure – like to have
some certainty. …if we have no smoothing policy at all, then we will get back to the good old bad days when people had
no idea from one year to another what their levy was likely to be. That is a totally unsatisfactory situation.”; if not,
why not?
ENDS