Questions For Oral Answer
Tuesday, 14 October 2003

QUESTIONS TO MINISTERS

1. DIANNE YATES to the Minister of Immigration: Has a migrant Thai couple received a government-funded holiday to Thailand, as stated by Rt Hon Winston Peters?

2. Hon RICHARD PREBBLE to the Attorney-General: In light of the poll in today’s New Zealand Herald that shows 79 percent of New Zealanders want a referendum on whether to abolish appeals to the Privy Council, will the Government now agree to let the public decide by holding a referendum; if not, why not?

3. LARRY BALDOCK to the Minister of Transport: Is he satisfied that the Land Transport Management Bill will contribute positively and equally to all the goals listed in the New Zealand Transport Strategy, which are: “assisting economic development, assisting safety and personal security, improving access and mobility, protecting and promoting public health, ensuring environmental sustainability”; if so, how will it do this?

4. Hon BILL ENGLISH to the Prime Minister: How does she reconcile her statement that establishing the Supreme Court is “not major constitutional change” with her reported statement in August 2000 that the constitutional effects of dropping the Privy Council were vast; and why has she changed her position since August 2000?

5. LYNNE PILLAY to the Minister of Housing: What reports has he received on improvements in social housing provision?

6. Hon BILL ENGLISH to the Prime Minister: Will she be asking President George W Bush to add New Zealand to the list of countries with which the United States of America is negotiating bilateral free trade agreements when she meets him at the APEC summit next week?

7. JEANETTE FITZSIMONS to the Minister for the Environment: When she said on television that genetic engineering “will pay for health. It will pay for education.”, how much does she expect genetic engineering to contribute to the health and education budgets in which years, and on what evidence does she base her predictions?

8. Dr MURIEL NEWMAN to the Minister of Immigration: On what date did she first learn that the New Zealand Immigration Service had dismissed an immigration officer who had sought sexual favours in return for helping a woman with her immigration application, and does she consider it acceptable that the Immigration Service never called the police?

9. JILL PETTIS to the Minister of Education: Is the Government taking any steps to ensure that students stay engaged in learning and reduce the level of truancy; if so, what?

10. PETER BROWN to the Minister of Revenue: What licence fees, government charges, taxes, or levies have increased since 1999 and by how much?

11. KATHERINE RICH to the Minister for Social Development and Employment: How does he reconcile his statement that the increase of Maori on domestic purposes benefit was due to “MSD tidying up their records” with his previous statement that it was due to “age structure”; and when did he first become aware of this increase of Maori on the domestic purposes benefit?

12. MARK PECK to the Minister of Statistics: What is Statistics New Zealand doing to reduce compliance costs incurred by small businesses in completing requests for statistical information?

ENDS

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