Mitchell ClaytonBROADCASTING (GAMES OF NATIONAL SIGNIFICANCE) AMENDMENT BILLFirst ReadingCLAYTON MITCHELL (NZ First): I move That the Broadcasting (Games of National Significance) Amendment Bill be now read a first time. I nominate the Commerce Committee to consider the bill. The bill amends the 1989 Broadcasting Act by inserting a number of small but significant subparts in sections 36 and 37. The most significant is new section 37(e) under the heading (Promotion of New Zealand content in programming)" which states: "ensure that the games of national significance listed in Schedule 1A are broadcast live and free-to-air." This bill is about putting the best interests of New Zealanders first. It is about doing what is morally right and it is about putting the needs of Kiwis above the wants of multinational companies' profits and their controls.This bill is in answer to a number of very simple questions. Should New Zealanders be able to watch sporting games of national significance live and free to air like we once used to? Yes absolutely we should. Should New Zealanders have the same opportunity to watch and enjoy live free-to-air sport like they do in Australia the UK India and Canada? Yes why should we not? Should sports be available to watch only for people who can afford to pay for the Sky Sport subscription? Absolutely not is the answer. Lastly should Kiwis be expected to pay a billion dollars a year in taxes towards sports and recreation and then pay again to watch sports games of national significance? Absolutely not. It does not make any sense. It is an outrage.Hon Trevor Mallard: Did the member say "a billion"? CLAYTON MITCHELL: $1 billion. The answers to these four questions will resonate with everyone in this House and back at home watching on Parliament TV in one way or another. For New Zealand First the answers to those questions are clear and concise. Interestingly Kiwis were polled through a number of mediums leading up to this debate and 84 percent of people agree with this bill—for the member over there—and want to see it passed through this House. This is an important bill and it is being read at an important time.This bill is a demonstration of political parties that support all New Zealanders fairly and equally. It is important because this is the year when the people of New Zealand will make a decision to oppose the establishment that is imposing globalist views and to support a regime that is paternal and patriotic and that puts New Zealanders first. Democracy ensures that we answer to the people of New Zealand and the people of New Zealand want to watch their Kiwi sporting heroes and heroines live and free to air.Whether it be the Olympics or the Commonwealth Games the Rugby World Cup or international netball people have a birthright to see these games live and free to air. In New Zealand we have laws that recognise the importance of the history and culture of New Zealand—Hon Trevor Mallard: Oh don't let the facts get in the road.CLAYTON MITCHELL: —and those laws are there to protect and advance certain parts of those things. I look forward to your contribution Mr Mallard. Sport is a vital part of New Zealand culture. It gives us pride and it inspires our young people to be the best they can be Mr Mallard. Sport is the one part of our Kiwi culture that unites all of us as a country and as a people. Sport is colour-blind to race and ethnicity and it does not differentiate between genders. Sport also plays a major role in our international cultural identity.Hon Trevor Mallard: What nonsense. The member should talk to some sportspeople.CLAYTON MITCHELL: Believe it or not there are parts of the world that do not even know where New Zealand is on the map—like Trevor Mallard obviously does not—but they know the All Blacks they know Lisa Carrington or Hamish Bond or Eric Murray they know Valerie Adams and they know the Black Sticks or Team New Zealand or John Walker or the Silver Ferns or any one of the plethora of New Zealand's sporting superstars. We are absolutely positively a sporting nation.We may be divided on our political views—I raise my eyes to you again Mr Mallard—or generationally interested in different things. But we all come together on the sporting fields waters or courts at club level and all the way to the highest levels of international competition.Sport and healthy honest competition brings Kiwis together. Look at the All Blacks as one example. We have players of Māori English Tongan Scottish Samoan Irish Fijian and French descent—nations that have long histories of fighting each other but come together as New Zealanders in the black jersey. Nothing brings people together in shared celebration like a sporting fixture. If you are Canadian Australian Indian or British you can bring your neighbours together to celebrate without having to pay an extra $1000 - plus a year Mr Mallard—just so you were listening—for Sky Sport subscriptions.Their Governments have ensured that laws do not permit sports of national significance to be placed behind paywalls like this Government does out of view from people who cannot afford to subscribe to them. But if you are a New Zealander you are out of luck. Why should Kiwis have to shell out an extra $1000 - plus a year to watch Sky when they have already spent $960 million investing into sports and recreation each year through their local taxes and central government taxes that we collect on their behalf? Put that in your pipe and smoke it.We used to be able to watch top-level sports live and free to air because our taxes went in at the grassroots level and laws ensured that no one was marginalised forgotten or disenfranchised.Hon Trevor Mallard: What's in the member's pipe—some of that "northern green"?CLAYTON MITCHELL: Keep smoking. We can all remember getting up early in the morning or being allowed to stay up extra late to watch the Olympics or the All Blacks playing overseas. I remember the excitement of watching John Walker winning gold at the 1976 Montreal Olympics. We had a little black and white TV and I remember mum and dad being really excited. I did not quite know why—I was only 4 years old—but it was clearly enough of a big deal that it burnt into my brain.How many families nowadays can say they have the same opportunity as we once did to enjoy great memorable sporting moments in time? I suggest it is just those fortunate enough to be able to afford Sky. For Kiwis these days finding out on the nightly news what has already happened is just not the same. Watching it live in the moment when you do not know the outcome increases the chances of future sporting triumphs being burnt into the minds of future Kiwis. We take pride in our sporting successes. We know that when we line up against some of the biggest countries in the world with the fairness of the same rules applying to everyone and our bloody-minded determination and tenacity bringing home a victory we all celebrate together. Why should anybody be denied this opportunity? How can any party member in their right mind put their hand on their heart and say that this bill is not good for New Zealanders?Let us not forget that this Government does see the benefit in supporting New Zealand culture on television by way of the Māori channel. This does come at a cost of around $55 million a year but most Kiwis would agree that this channel is a great asset supporting our language Te Reo and other culturally important programmes. The question is: why have we done that? Because it is important to New Zealanders.Living an active lifestyle is important for our country. Participation in sport keeps us healthy and makes us less likely to require additional access to health services in the future. Participation in sport has the potential to save taxpayers' money. Hon Trevor Mallard: How does sitting on your couch help that?CLAYTON MITCHELL: Unfortunately we currently have declining rates of participation—something you know lots about mate—around the country. I repeat what I said before. We have the highest obesity rates in children and in some adults sitting over there that we have ever seen. We have kids who in the past would have been outside playing sport and aspiring to be like their favourite sports heroes or heroines. Running jumping swimming kicking passing or shooting hoops is what we need our kids of this generation to be doing again.A point: success breeds success. There is a phrase: if I can see it I can be it. By not giving all of our young people the chance to see it we are robbing them of the opportunity to foster and develop their own sense of self-belief. We are robbing them of the belief that they can be successful at the highest levels of whatever they are passionate about. So why would we stop them from seeing live free-to-air sports?I have heard Sky TV's claim that it has spent $1 billion on securing broadcasting rights over the last decade but there is no breakdown of that figure. There is no breakdown of which sports received those dollars nor how much was spent on wining and dining and travelling around the world. But the New Zealand taxpayers spend nearly $1 billion every single year on sports and recreation and then they are expected to cough up another $1000 a year just for the privilege of having live sports which they have got to pay for.This bill is about Kiwis' sporting games and events of New Zealand national significance. It is about Kiwi pride and it is about Kiwi passion. Some people including the former Prime Minister have made comments about this bill driving players overseas in search of more lucrative contracts. No it does not. That is complete rubbish. In fact international evidence suggests that absolutely the opposite occurs. This is nothing more than unsubstantiated nonsense and fearmongering. Look what Ben Smith and Israel Dagg turned down—lucrative international contracts—to be here and a part of our country and to play for our team. We commend this bill to the House. Thank you."