Mallard Trevor: Broadcasting Amendment Bill — Third Reading 
Mallard Trevor: Broadcasting Amendment Bill — Third Reading 
[Volume:645;Page:14779] 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD (Minister of Broadcasting) 
: 
 I move  
That the Broadcasting Amendment Bill be now read a third time 
. This bill will bring New Zealand’s funding agencies slightly closer to a digital age. Like our counterparts overseas New Zealand is moving steadily into a new digital era where analog transmission will become obsolete within a few years. In this new digital world broadcasting-like content will increasingly appear on a variety of media and devices. Audiences of the future will as a matter of course expect to access content through a choice of platforms and at times of their choosing. The Government’s public broadcasting policies under the broadcasting programme of action aim to maintain and enhance the availability of public broadcasting content in the digital era. The changes proposed in this bill will enable our broadcasting funding agencies to support the production of local content in this new and exciting environment. A rich variety of local content is fundamental to any well-performing public broadcasting system and is crucial to that success. 
Dr Jonathan Coleman 
: Fire it up! 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: The member says: “Fire it up!”. Whenever he says: “Fire it up!” I think of cigars! How could one think of anything else? Where there is smoke there is someone who is steaming. 
This bill will allow New Zealand On Air and Te Mangai Paho to fund types of content archiving and transmission that are likely to be integral to digital radio and television platforms such as the Internet mobile phones and other mobile services. The ability to do this—as members are all aware I am sure—is currently outside the scope of the Broadcasting Act 1989. This bill has been thoroughly considered. It was hardly controversial; there were only two submissions on it. I want to thank those people on the Commerce Committee who considered the bill. 
This bill does some really interesting things like introducing the terms “content” and “transmit on demand”. In fact we had to change “Contents” to “Particulars” because of the introduction of the new term “content”. Even in doing a bill like this I learnt something. 
Dr Richard Worth 
: Does the member believe in this bill? 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: I learnt that members of the House of Lords do not say “Aye”; they are asked whether they are “Content” with a piece of legislation. Even “Lord What’s-his-name of Monaco” learnt that as well when I told him. So the definition of “content” was something particularly important. 
Dr Richard Worth 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I am not certain whether the current person addressing the Chamber was referring to me but if he was that was a wholly inappropriate appellation. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson) 
: That is not a point of order and the member knows it. He has been here long enough. 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: It is relatively sad as far as that member is concerned that the National Party has decided to put him up in Epsom so that Rodney Hide can win. I mean that is a sad state of affairs for a member of Parliament. 
The current definitions which will apply elsewhere in the Act will be retained but for the purposes of the two funding agencies they will be supplemented by the new terms. The bulk of the bill is concerned with permitting the agencies to fund the desired forms of digital content transmission and archiving. It will allow Te Mangai Paho to fund the archiving of Maori language and culture programmes. It has been a fault of probably both Governments that that was not able to be done earlier on. In addition the bill carries over the Act’s existing protection against ministerial interference in decisions. Ministers cannot even suggest let alone direct what should be archived and what should not. 
Dr Jonathan Coleman 
: Tell us about the regulation you’re bringing in. 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: It is a protection I suppose in the very long term against a Tory Government. I would love to have the power but in 20 years’ time it will not be— 
Dr Jonathan Coleman 
: Tell us about the regulation you’re bringing in after this. 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: No no. What I said to the member—and if he was not in a cloud of smoke and if his ears were clean he would know what I said—was that after we have had the digital review which is going on there will almost certainly be further legislation. The regulatory environment will change. 
Dr Richard Worth 
: When? 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: It will change almost certainly next year because that is how long it will take to work through that process. Anyone who has thought about convergence which is touched on in this bill but is occurring— 
Dr Jonathan Coleman 
: Touched on? 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: I do not want to sound too much like one of my colleagues but it is a matter of both convergence and fragmentation. We are getting both of them happening at the same time and we have to have a regulatory environment— 
Dr Jonathan Coleman 
: Sounds like the Labour caucus—fragmenting and converging. 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: Well no I think not. I think anyone who looked at John Key in the House today saw how sad he looked with those shocking bags under his eyes. He was doing an imitation of Mike Moore at his worst. That was John Key today. Clearly the pressure is getting to that man. 
Hon Mark Burton 
: He hasn’t done anything yet! 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: No no. He has clearly spent the weekend crying. [ 
Interruption 
] 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson) 
: Order! 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: Well members opposite asked me to discuss the regulation and the inability of John Key to react to anything at all. I know it was a different regulation that he was reacting to but the question from Jonathan Coleman was one that was more general. 
I would like to thank the people who made submissions to the select committee. We live in an age where traditional models have to be responsive to new technologies. This bill will ensure in a very small way that the public funding mechanisms for local content reflect the potential of the digital environment. I look forward next year to introducing more substantive legislation than this bill and I look forward to some members opposite debating it at that time. I think that one day we will have an idea from Dr Coleman because when the digital review was introduced he said there was nothing in it then he went on the radio and said there was a lot in it and everyone should make submissions. The way he changes his mind is a bit like the way John Key changes his mind. He might be trying to imitate the leader—to grease up to him to be on the front bench—because he acts like John Key— 
Chris Tremain 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. This is a Minister giving a speech on a third reading. I draw your attention to Standing Order 107(1) in terms of relevancy. This speech is far off the topic of what a concise Minister’s speech should be. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson) 
: I thank the member for his intervention and just mention that the Minister is responding to some interjections from the other side of the House which do not actually help the debate. 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: I will go back to the essential point that this is a relatively small bill. We are likely to have a larger bill introduced to the House as a result of the consultation process occurring at the moment and one of the things we will be interested in when that bill comes in is whether by that stage Dr Coleman has got his head round the convergence issues that are driving these changes and whether he will get his head round the fragmentation issues that are changing the face of broadcasting— 
Hon Paul Swain 
: He’ll be in Opposition so it won’t matter. 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: I am an old-fashioned member; I think occasionally people can make a contribution from the Opposition. Clearly Jonathan Coleman is not there yet.