Robertson Grant: Arts Council of New Zealand Toi Aotearoa Bill — Third ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeRobertson Grant: Arts Council of New Zealand Toi Aotearoa Bill — Third Reading[Sitting date: 29 January 2014. Volume:696;Page:15674. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]GRANT ROBERTSON (Labour—Wellington Central): Sorry Mr Assistant Speaker how long have I got left?The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson): Mr Robertson you have 8 minutes remaining.GRANT ROBERTSON: Excellent—very very good.Chris Hipkins: I move for an extension of time.GRANT ROBERTSON: Well that is right before I have begun—that is a good idea. I think we should start by first saying that the Assistant Speaker and I do indeed share a last name and I admire the Robertson tartan tie that he is wearing—The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson): Thank you.GRANT ROBERTSON: —distantly related as we are.When I was talking last night I had come to what is one of the Labour Party’s principal concerns with the Arts Council of New Zealand Toi Aotearoa Bill and that is the disestablishment ofTe Waka Toi which is the Māori arts funding body and the Pacific Arts Committee. Both of those organisations which have a long history of funding the arts in New Zealand disappear from view tonight. In fact as we discovered in the Committee stage “Te Waka Toi” is now a banned phrase. Nobody is allowed to use the phrase “Te Waka Toi” from this moment onwards as a result of one of the clauses in this bill. So not only is the bill expunging Te Waka Toi from its job and its work but it is taking the name out and saying that it actually cannot be used. That is just how far this Government is going with this bill.It is not true to say that the Arts Council or Creative New Zealand are perfect bodies. There is always room for improvement. There is always room for streamlining of governance structures. But the problem with this bill is that it takes a sledgehammer to that issue and it says that there will be one body that there will be four people who will be responsible for making sure that Māori perspectives are covered and that there will be two people making sure that Pacific perspectives are covered. On this side of theHouse we simply do not believe that that is an adequate representation for Māori and Pacific arts in New Zealand.The truth is that Māori and Pacific arts have flourished under the model that has been working through the Arts Council in the last few years. Māori artists believe in the Te Waka Toi brand. They believe in the fact that they will be supported as Māori artists by a body that understands them. The Pacific Arts Committee has overseen the development of Pacific artists like JonathanLemalu like Victor Rodger—people who have contributed so much to New Zealand—and that leadership goes tonight with this bill. We on this side of the House simply do not agree with that approach.The Minister for Arts Culture and Heritage has told us that it will be perfectly possible for theMāori members or those with knowledge ofMāori custom who are on the new Arts Council to form their own committee and potentially make funding decisions. That is what he told us in the Committee stage. Well if that is the case just leave Te Waka Toi in place and let it get on with doing its job. But no the Minister for Arts Culture and Heritage who knows so much better about the arts than anybody else—Moana Mackey: And everything else.GRANT ROBERTSON: —and everything in fact—says to us that this is the structure—Maggie Barry: More than you that’s for sure.GRANT ROBERTSON: Maggie Barry another member of the arts scene over the back there—Hon Member: The brains trust.GRANT ROBERTSON: That is right.Maggie Barry: Jealous and unpleasant as usual.GRANT ROBERTSON: You should not talk about Chris Finlayson like that. Maggie Barry should not talk about Chris Finlayson like that. Calling Chris Finlayson jealous and unpleasant is a terrible terrible thing to do in this House tonight.Moana Mackey: An understatement.GRANT ROBERTSON: It could be an understatement Moana—it could be.In addition to the complete destruction of Te Waka Toi and the Pacific Arts Committee this bill is also confused in several areas. One of those is in the future of community arts and the name of the community arts councils. In the Committee stage we were simply unable to get a clear answer from the Minister as to what the future of community arts councils is. It is quite clear from those who submitted on the bill that they also were concerned about this. It now seems that the name “community arts council” is potentially available to people from outside a region to come into a region and call themselves a community arts council but the control of that name is also now kept within the Arts Council.To me this speaks of a Government and in particular a Minister who does not understand the importance of community arts who does not understand what grassroots communities need when it comes to fostering creativity. It is a Minister who thinks that arts start and end at the symphony orchestra and the ballet and he might chuck Neil Diamond in on a good day. That is the arts to Chris Finlayson and that is not enough.Kris Faafoi: Come on don’t be mean to Neil.GRANT ROBERTSON: Oh there are some Neil Diamond fans on this side of the House so I withdraw and apologise for saying that. But it is fair to say that this Minister does not have an understanding of the arts beyond the narrow field that he believes constitutes what should be funded.We have at this time for instance a crisis in the publishing industry in New Zealand. It is a fantastic thing to see EleanorCatton up on the world stage but the reality is thatsupport for authors writers and publishers in New Zealand is at an all-time low and they are struggling.Maggie Barry: Rubbish!GRANT ROBERTSON: Maggie Barry says that is rubbish. Go out and talk to people in the publishing industry and actually listen to what they say—actually listen to what people in the publishing industry say. They say that this National Government does not support them. Independent publishers want to know where the support is for them. Authors want to know where the support is for them. This is a Government that has overseen the end of a publication that has been published annually for 20 or 30 years—Sport magazine—which publishes new authors every year. It is gone under this Government because this Government does not understand the importance of arts and literature beyond the narrow field that its Minister sees.This bill unfortunately will pass tonight because it has been unthinkingly put through by this Government. I expect that in years to come we will return to a different model a more inclusive model of arts funding because this is not the answer. The Arts Council of New Zealand has funded fantastic things over the years. This Minister has decided that his great legacy will be to tinker around with the bureaucracy. That is not good enough. We need a Government that will support arts from the community level right up to those who go overseas likeLorde and like EleanorCatton—Maggie Barry: You had your chance and did nothing.GRANT ROBERTSON: Oh Maggie Barry says that we had our chance and we did nothing. Maggie Barry says that. We had to put in an arts recovery package because Maggie Barry’s party was so hopeless in the arts. We had to put $80 million in.Helen Clark led the arts in this country. When Labour gets back into Government again we will ensure that the arts recover and Maggie Barry will see what a real arts Minister looks like.