Smith Lockwood: Television New Zealand Bill — Instruction to Committee In Committee 
Smith Lockwood: Television New Zealand Bill — Instruction to Committee In Committee 
[Volume:606;Page:3749] 
Dr the Hon LOCKWOOD SMITH (NZ National—Rodney) 
: 
 United Future ought to be embarrassed to support such junk legislation just through having done a nasty little deal with the Government. We expect better from United Future than that. Part 2 of this legislation can only be described in one way: just as the financial world refers to “junk bonds” this is junk legislation. That is the only way I can describe it. I congratulate my colleague Katherine Rich because Supplementary Order Paper 57 makes the bill not as bad as it once was. The Government is clearly embarrassed by this bill. We have not heard a single Government speaker stand up and defend Part 2. At least my colleagues like Katherine Rich got some sense put into it but it is still junk legislation.  
I feel I have some knowledge that enables me to speak on this bill. I have probably been involved in delivering television more than most members in this House. At one stage I had an educational television show for pre-school kids showing in four countries: Hong Kong Taiwan Australia and New Zealand. That educational programme was made by a private television company with none of the junk that the charter in this legislation brings in. It had none of that. I once ran a scientific programme in Australia for students after school. That natural science show was a live direct telecast and was a science programme for students after school. It was an informative and entertaining programme—at least it had a great rating so I guess it was reasonably entertaining—and it was delivered by a private television channel with none of the junk that there is in this charter.  
In this country I once ran a programme for form 2 kids called  
W3 
. It was an informative programme. In fact it had a great rating when we used to do it back in the late 1970s. They used to fly me over from Adelaide to front that show in the early days. A lot of people from around the country come up to me say they were on that show and ask whether I remember them. South Pacific Television made that show and it did not have a dopey charter like this to require it to do so. In those days we did not have a Government that felt the need to tell New Zealanders what they had to watch. We did not have a Government that was so arrogant that it thought it had to tell New Zealanders what they had to watch. I also once did a programme called  
It’s Academic 
 which was produced by a private production company called Kevin Moore and Associates. That company had nothing to do with Television New Zealand; Television New Zealand bought the rights to show the programme. None of the junk in Part 2 of this bill was required to have those informative programmes screened.  
One of those programmes—the one I used to do for pre-school kids that showed in four separate countries back in the mid-1970s—still shows in New Zealand today on Prime Television. I turned the television on at some hour of the morning the other day and there it was. I am probably too embarrassed to say what the programme is called but if members turn on the telly they will hear that famous little tune “What a Funny Old Fellow is Humphrey”. That programme is informative and entertaining for kids I fronted it in 1975 and it is still going now in 2003. A private television company produced it and it did not need this dopey charter.  
What is so objectionable about this bill is what the charter states. It states that Television New Zealand will feature programming that contributes towards intellectual scientific cultural spiritual and ethical development. What about the physical development of our kids? I say to the Minister in the chair the Hon Steve Maharey that we have a problem with kids watching too much television. They are sitting on their backsides instead of getting out there and playing sport. What about changing the wording of that stupid charter to include physical development?