Hague Kevin: Urgent Debates — Rugby World Cup—Broadcasting 
Hague Kevin: Urgent Debates — Rugby World Cup—Broadcasting 
[Volume:658;Page:7187] 
KEVIN HAGUE (Green) 
: 
 I think I might try to bring the temperature down a little. It is fair to say given the comments that have been made in the past week both by the Prime Minister and the Hon Tariana Turia on behalf of the Maori Party that both National and the Maori Party have conceded that this issue of broadcast rights for the Rugby World Cup has not been well handled. Speaking on behalf of the Green Party I say that we would agree with that. It has not been well handled. It seems clear that as a result of the poor handling of the issue we as New Zealanders are destined to pay more taxpayer dollars than we otherwise would have. We will pay those dollars into the coffers of the International Rugby Board with no gain at all it seems to me for New Zealanders in exchange for paying over the odds. So I think that is a point of considerable regret for all of us. 
I was surprised by the Prime Minister’s answer today in the House to the Leader of the Opposition’s question about the amount of money that Cabinet yesterday had voted towards these broadcast rights for the Rugby World Cup. To refresh members’ memories I say that the Prime Minister answered that that was not a question that was possible to answer because the figure might change in the future and we did not know what the International Rugby Board would accept. But that was not an answer to the question that the honourable Leader of the Opposition had asked. It seems to me that the only possible scenarios that would be consistent with the Prime Minister’s answer would be either that Cabinet has not made its decisions to fund the broadcast rights or alternatively that Cabinet has made an open-ended decision in respect of funding. I think that that would be a scenario that we would all be concerned about. 
The Rugby World Cup will take place at a time of the year in terms of the electoral cycle that will be exciting and tricky for all of us. Many of us are likely to have a busier schedule at that time of the electoral cycle. We will be anticipating and responding to the many invitations to meetings around the country from people who are interested in the general election to be held in that year. From my point of view as someone who has been anticipating this Rugby World Cup with a mixture of excitement but also trepidation I wonder with the cup back in New Zealand whether it will prove possible for us to win it. But I will relish the opportunity of getting back from whatever election meeting I have attended and being able to turn on the TV and know pretty well that whatever channel that is already on I will be able to catch the game that is on at that time. The games will be shown on so many channels. From the Green Party’s point of view we certainly support the games being available free to air. This is an iconic event the games are iconic and it is very important that all New Zealanders should have access to them. 
The Green Party has been a strong supporter of Maori Television. We have supported the role that Maori Television has played in the revitalisation of Maori language and the availability of tikanga Maori and Maoritanga to the wider New Zealand population. I guess a lesson we have learnt internationally is that television stations can play a crucial role in promoting the indigenous culture and language of a country. We believe that Maori Television has performed that role extraordinarily well. We love the philosophy that it has of zigging where the others zag. I was personally extremely excited to hear about the Maori Television bid for the broadcast rights because not only would the world be exposed to Maori culture but more and more New Zealanders would be exposed to te reo Maori which has been the experience to date with Maori Television. 
It is hard to escape the conclusion that one of the things that has occurred in the past couple of weeks is that Government Ministers perhaps feeling uncomfortable on behalf of those New Zealanders who harbour either prejudice or antagonism towards Maori culture and language have stepped in to spare that group of New Zealanders from having to deal with being confronted with Maori language. I think that that is an extremely unfortunate turn of events and I certainly would welcome the opportunity for there to be some kind of inquiry into the reasons behind the actions of Ministers and an investigation into Ministers’ compliance with standards of ethical behaviour for Ministers around their actions in relation to this matter. 
In summary I say that the Green Party supports the right of New Zealanders to free-to-air broadcasting of the games. We look forward to the Rugby World Cup but we believe that something quite profoundly wrong has occurred in the process around these broadcasting rights not only in the fact that New Zealanders have ended up paying beyond the odds—certainly an unknown number of dollars beyond the odds; for some time to come we will not know how much this will cost us—but also around the ethical standards that Ministers have followed. We would welcome a proper independent investigation of compliance with those ethical standards.