Peck Mark: Debate on Crown Entities Public Organisations and State Enterprises — In Committee Speaker Recalled In Committee 
Peck Mark: Debate on Crown Entities Public Organisations and State Enterprises — In Committee Speaker Recalled In Committee 
[Volume:617;Page:13247] 
MARK PECK (Labour—Invercargill) 
: 
 I congratulate the Minister on his comments in the Chamber today. I join him in reminding those who are listening to the debate today that if National had the opportunity it would sell off TVNZ Radio New Zealand by lunchtime and a heck of a lot more. National members do not believe in public assets. They think that the market delivers best. Indeed Don Brash even when talking about schools said only a couple of years ago that for his part he did not care who owned the schools. He does not care who owns the Accident Compensation Corporation or hospitals. He certainly does not care who owns broadcasting. He does not care whether Television New Zealand is in private ownership. 
I just ask the people of New Zealand to think about that a little bit because not everybody earns the same amount of money as Don Brash used to earn when he was on half a million bucks a year as the Governor of the Reserve Bank and certainly not everybody has the same sort of assets that John Key has. Many people in New Zealand rely totally on the public broadcaster for their television news information and entertainment. 
I just say to members opposite that if they want to sell Television New Zealand bring it on! Let us take that particular debate into the election and have it. Let us put it on the table and have a debate about it because I know that the Kiwi mums and dads around the country like their free-to-air television. I can say about the people whose houses I door knock on that not everybody has Sky because they cannot afford the payments. In some parts of the country not only do they not have Sky they cannot get it unless they really go the whole hog and get the— 
Hon Maurice Williamson 
: You can get Sky anywhere in New Zealand. It comes from a satellite. 
MARK PECK 
: The member should try to get it in some places in Southland and see how he gets on. 
Hon Maurice Williamson 
: Anywhere. 
MARK PECK 
: Anywhere? 
Hon Maurice Williamson 
: Done. There is the technology. 
MARK PECK 
: A done deal. That is very good. 
Darren Hughes 
: He’s got his salary back now. 
MARK PECK 
: He has his salary back and his position back. It is good to see him back in that seat as he has given a bit of punch to the Opposition which they were lacking for some time when he was No. 27. He was a bit like a Telecom advertisement—“Go 27”—but of course he did not go he came back and someone else along the way did go— 
Darren Hughes 
: He’s still going. 
MARK PECK 
: That is true he is still going and we know about that. I congratulate Television New Zealand on the work it does. It does an extremely good job of providing the news service and current affairs programmes. It also provides very good children’s programmes. I remember when I was bringing my children up the importance of children’s programmes on a Saturday morning as people were waking up and getting into their day. These programmes are top notch. 
Darren Hughes 
: Even 40 years ago? 
MARK PECK 
: It is a little bit less than 40 years ago but almost. I am delighted that very soon I will be a grandfather and will be able to enjoy those Saturday morning programmes with my grandson or granddaughter—who knows but it will certainly be one of the two—and I am certainly looking forward to that. 
There were some issues that we discussed with TVNZ and we will have it back for a briefing on some of the matters that have been referred to in this debate but that is as it should be. One of the things about financial reviews is that they give the select committee an opportunity to get behind the numbers and that is an important thing to do. But at the end of the day that is not a reason to give the likes of the Opposition an opportunity to say that they would like to flog it off. 
I can understand that point of view coming from ACT. All that ACT has ever believed is that we should sell everything but I would have thought that if the National Opposition was looking to build a solid social infrastructure in this nation it would have said that broadcasting was part of that but no they remain silent on the other side. It took Winston Peters and Sue Kedgley to raise the issues in this Chamber but National members will not raise them because they know that Television New Zealand is a very good State-owned enterprise. 
As Opposition members consider their proposals for the next few years I tell them this: the State-owned enterprises in this country of which TVNZ is one have on their balance sheets $11 billion worth of assets. If members opposite are talking about getting rid of that it is probably just under 10 percent of New Zealand’s gross domestic product. It is a significant amount to be putting on the market and I think Opposition members should stand up and be accountable for that. I wish one of them would make some comments. 
Reports noted.