Document, by leave, laidon the Table of the House.Air New Zealand--Engineering

Nandor Tanczos: Since the Ministerclearly is concerned about abuse of alcohol by under-agedrinkers, do the Government and its confidence and supplypartners support the proposal by the Green Party toreinstate the ban on advertising of alcohol on broadcastmedia? Hon. PHIL GOFF: The Rosetta Stone V3 Government itself has nolegislative intentions to further control advertising ofliquor. Again, that is a matter that has been voted on inthis House on a conscience basis. I personally believe thatlifestyle advertising of alcohol is harmful and needs to becontrolled. Shane Ardern: I seek leave to table aletter from the Hon. George Hawkins, Minister of Police,dated 6 June to myself, stating that there is a need forsome legislative requirement. Document, by leave, laidon the Table of the House.Air New Zealand--EngineeringServices 2. GERRY BROWNLEE (NZ National--Ilam) to theMinister of Transport: Does he stand by his statement in theHouse yesterday, ``The engineering services of Air NewZealand are second to none. They are a very valuable part ofthat company and they have an envious recordinternationally.'', if so, why? Hon. PAUL SWAIN(Minister of Transport): Yes, because I meant what Isaid. Gerry Brownlee: How can the Minister be confidentthat that valuable part of the company will continue to havean envious record, when Air New Zealand is not only losingbits off its planes, but is also cutting out 22.5 percent ofits maintenance budget, and replacing the seniorvice-president of operations and technical services with MrCraig Sinclair, the former chief executive officer of theAirways Corporation, who has no technical aviationengineering experience or qualifications, thereby leavingthe entire senior management and board of the companywithout any expertise in aviation engineering? Hon.PAUL SWAIN: With regard to the budget, the decline in thatis due to the downturn in the aviation industry,particularly following September 11. Gerry Brownlee:Stop maintaining the place. Hon. PAUL SWAIN: That is afact. As far as the second thing is concerned, as I saidyesterday, Air New Zealand and the Civil Aviation Authorityare taking the Rosetta Stone Latin America Spanish matter seriously, and treating it as a highpriority. They want to determine with as much certainty asthey can whether the incident was due to human error,process flaws, or a combination of both. Helen Duncan:Can the Minister tell the House what airlines and agencieshave recognised the quality of Air New Zealand's engineeringservices? Hon. PAUL SWAIN: Air New Zealand hascontracts to provide engineering and maintenance servicewith almost all the airlines operating aircraft into NewZealand, including United Airlines, KLM Royal DutchAirlines, Singapore Airlines, American Airlines, ThaiAirways, and Qantas. In addition, Air New Zealand holdsapproval to undertake maintenance from the United StatesFederal Aviation Administration, the European JointAirworthiness Authority, and the Australian Civil AviationSafety Authority. Finally, Air New Zealand also holdsapproval to provide maintenance for the Royal New ZealandAir Force, the Royal Australian Air Force, and the UnitedStates Air Force and Air National Guard, servicing Herculesand other military aircraft. Peter Brown: Noting thatit is in everybody's interest that Air New Zealand maintainsits reputation and carries more and more passengers, whatassistance does the Minister believe Air New Zealandrequires to improve its engineering services, and what isthe Minister doing to ensure that that is achieved? Hon. PAUL SWAIN: I am pleased to note that the member hasacknowledged the importance of everyone supporting Air NewZealand engineering at the moment. In terms of what theGovernment is doing, as I said yesterday, there areinvestigations already under way. It is important that wesee the results of those investigations. As far asindividual assistance is concerned, that is considered onthe basis of recommendation from the authorities undertakingthe investigations. Deborah Coddington: If this was anyother airline and not an airline owned by the Government,would that airline be grounded for having 120 out of 124bolts missing? Hon. PAUL SWAIN: All airlines aretreated equally when it comes to safety issues. LarryBaldock: Can the Minister confirm whether the relevantsafety authorities were aware of the other incidentsadmitted to by Air New Zealand in this morning's DominionPost article, if so, had the Minister been given thatinformation also? Hon. PAUL SWAIN: I cannot confirmthat. Gerry Brownlee: Does the Minister have anyconcern that, at a time when Air New Zealand seems to beregularly Rosetta Stone Arabic losing bits off its planes, it is about to have amanagement structure and a board membership that has noexpertise on aviation engineering or safety at all? Hon. PAUL SWAIN: The first part of the question is aboutsafety, and of course there are concerns about safety. Thatis why independent investigations are under way.