Burns Brendon: General Debate 
Burns Brendon: General Debate 
[Volume:667;Page:14436] 
BRENDON BURNS (Labour—Christchurch Central) 
: 
 The last couple of National speakers have chosen to touch on issues of leadership. If members opposite want to talk about leadership by the Prime Minister I ask where he showed leadership when our distinguished Governor-General was being slagged on a breakfast television programme and racist and offensive remarks were made right in front of him. Where was leadership shown by him in not responding to those questions on the spot? John Key is one of three people who bear responsibility for this very unfortunate saga—one of the three. Paul Henry has paid the price for the comments he made and appropriately so but John Key and the chief executive of Television New Zealand (TVNZ) bear responsibility as well. 
We have to say that the Prime Minister failed to recognise and stand up for the interests of the 100000 New Zealanders of Indian origin when Paul Henry made his racist and offensive remarks about a person of Indian descent not being an appropriate choice as the Governor-General. I wonder whether this weekend the Prime Minister will attend one of the many Diwali events around the country as our Hindu community celebrates its sacred festival. Will he stand shoulder to shoulder alongside members of the Indian community and enjoy their hospitality when he failed so miserably recently to defend their interests to defend the reputation of a man who grew up in that community who has been a distinguished New Zealander and who in front of an audience of hundreds of thousands was denigrated on our State television channel? 
I think John Key bears as much responsibility for that as Paul Henry. Not only did he fail to challenge those racist and offensive remarks but also he sat there for the next few minutes and virtually encouraged Paul Henry to continue. Paul Henry continued his offensive comments. He then started questioning who should be the next Governor-General and the Prime Minister allowed him and encouraged him to rule out two other distinguished New Zealanders: one a former member of this House Jeannette Fitzsimons and the other the Mad Butcher Sir Peter Leitch whom ironically Paul Henry was due to host on  
This Is Your Life 
 last weekend. The Prime Minister sat there like a stuffed dummy and allowed not just one distinguished New Zealander but three distinguished New Zealanders to be denigrated. I say that is an issue of leadership. When a remark like that is said in front of politicians of any stature certainly at Prime Minister level politicians need to find their moral compass and stand up and say it is unacceptable and it is offensive. It deserves to be responded to immediately; they should not sit there smile and wave. The Prime Minister failed a large section of the New Zealand community at a time when it wanted true leadership. 
It is not the first time that Paul Henry has caused offence and in fact that is where the question mark about the judgment of TVNZ and its chief executive comes into question. I note that there has been a series of events like this one that have been increasingly trenchant and have increasingly caused division and offence in the community. Until now there has not been any attempt by TVNZ to rein in that presenter. It sat by and said publicly that he was a bit naughty but by golly he rated! That should not be the only requirement of a State-owned broadcaster. We should have expectations that a State broadcaster will have some requirement other than simply to maximise ratings and revenue. That is why it is the State broadcaster. It is a shame on TVNZ. 
I acknowledge that Paul Henry has been on air through two Governments but members should note that as one media commentator put it he seemed to go really ballistic from the time of the change of Government onwards. Part of the reason for that of course is that this Government has told TVNZ to ditch any other requirement; to not think about issues of national identity balance ethics and judgment but simply to focus on the bottom line and to maximise the dividends for this Government. When that kind of requirement is put on TVNZ this sort of thing is no surprise. That said we expect people in positions of authority like the chief executive of TVNZ who is also editor-in-chief to recognise the commercial risks he is putting upon his company. 
I think the real motivation for TVNZ’s taking action against Paul Henry at the level it has done was not really the response of hundreds and hundreds of New Zealanders—the biggest ever response—but the threat of one of its major advertisers to pull its advertising. That is what rang TVNZ’s bells. That is what caused it to intervene and respond not the fact that tens of thousands of New Zealanders were personally offended by the comments made in the presence of the Prime Minister who failed to defend the integrity of our Governor-General. Shame on him.