te Heuheu Georgina: Radio New Zealand Amendment Bill — In Committee Third Reading 
te Heuheu Georgina: Radio New Zealand Amendment Bill — In Committee Third Reading 
[Volume:616;Page:12250] 
Hon GEORGINA TE HEUHEU (National) 
: 
 I certainly appreciated the Minister getting to his feet and trying to give us an explanation of the reason for these additional dimensions in the charter. But I have to say that I am none the wiser as to why some time after the original charter was prescribed by this Government the Minister saw fit to make additions. But of course the additions that have caused the most reason for debate tonight have been the insertion of the words “spiritual” and “ethical”. So on top of an already overladen charter brought in by the Minister in the early days of his responsibility he has now seen fit to add a dimension that in the Opposition’s view is totally unnecessary and entirely inappropriate. 
There are three grounds on which I object to it. The first is that some obligations are being put into the charter on to a public broadcaster that over the last 2 years has had extreme difficulty delivering on the charter requirements and also with delivering within budget. It has had budget blowouts. It has had an emergency request for funding and into that scenario this Minister has put some added obligations. 
Secondly these are add-ons. If the requirement for the broadcaster to deliver programmes that cater to both the spiritual and ethical dimensions of our community are so important why was it not seen to be important at the time the original charter was developed? Why if they are so important are they now being treated as add-ons? The reality is they are not important. They are not appropriate. As I said earlier we live in a multicultural society. How is it that this broadcaster can meet the needs of the Paimarire movement? How will it do that? What about the people from Islamic countries? How is it to deliver to those people? They are living in our country. They are part of the listening audience. How is the public broadcaster meant to cater to their needs? So what it will amount to is no doubt a bland coverage of what someone’s view is of the spiritual beliefs of New Zealanders. No broadcaster can cater to the spiritual beliefs of the multicultural society we now have in New Zealand. That is why we say that it is totally inappropriate. 
Thirdly these are requirements that should not be in the public arena at all. If someone were to suggest to the compulsory school sector that it has an obligation to cater to the spiritual and ethical needs of our children—and why would one not say that; if one thinks a public broadcaster has that obligation why not a public educator—we know that that would be a nonsense in any event. That is why we say that it is a nonsense to have these dimensions in this legislation. They are not proper or appropriate. 
I have listened to colleagues reminding us about the fact that we no longer say grace at State banquets. When Queen Elizabeth II visited New Zealand 2 years ago and no grace was said at the State dinner in the Banquet Hall I and a small handful of Maori who were there found it very offensive. Why is it that this Government imposes on the public broadcaster an obligation to somehow reflect the ethical and spiritual beliefs of the New Zealand community when at a very important function those beliefs are seen to be of no value whatsoever? The Queen as head of the Anglican Church was at that State dinner and for some reason the Prime Minister saw fit to have the prayer removed and it has been removed since.