Rich Katherine: Radio New Zealand Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Rich Katherine: Radio New Zealand Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:607;Page:4662] 
KATHERINE RICH (NZ National) 
: 
 The Radio New Zealand Amendment Bill is a mere 2 pages in length and that is another indication of how obsessed this Government is with charters. In terms of legislation this is nothing more than a feel-good bill. I remind members that we are here under urgency and although we have important things to do and although important things are going on in the world—wars etc.—we are here to talk about the spiritual and ethical guidance that we are supposed to get from National Radio. It is a sad day when we expect or in fact think that radio can deliver programming that aims to give New Zealanders spiritual and ethical guidance. I question the role of radio in doing that anyway given that it is State-owned. 
The whole point of this bill is to insert the words “spiritual and ethical” into the charter and to apply them to programming. However I question whether those words have been applied to the management of Radio New Zealand. I wonder whether the spiritual needs of Sean Plunket for example were considered in the handling of a number of issues at Radio New Zealand or whether there was actually ethical practice. There has been just been an out-of-court settlement of some tens of thousands of dollars. I question what is really going on with Radio New Zealand right now in terms of morale and in terms of the way the organisation is being managed. The organisation is in crisis. That fact should be the real focus of the discussions today not this esoteric piece of legislation that is designed probably to do very little. It is not often that I find myself agreeing with the engineers union but its delegate Brent Edwards had the following comment to make about report after report which have been done to try to get to the bottom of the problems within Radio New Zealand. He said: “As soon as we heard there was going to be a report we said: ‘Don’t do it it’s a waste of money because you ought to know what the problems are’.” We know what the problems are at Radio New Zealand. We know that the problems relate to morale. Top political editors like Al Morrison do not leave Radio New Zealand for no good reason. I do not think it was a love of polar fleece and sandals that led Mr Morrison to leave Radio New Zealand. I do not think it was an enjoyment of the environment that made Mr Morrison leave. I imagine that there were some pretty significant reasons and the dysfunction within the newsroom is one of the very dire situations that have occurred within Radio New Zealand. 
Members of the management of Radio New Zealand appeared before the select committee. I put the question to the management of Radio New Zealand. I asked them how many cuts had been made to the newsroom. The answer given was $68000 in terms of cash but I now understand that that answer was very economical with the truth. The real cuts have been in the non-replacement of staff. I come from Dunedin and one of the key areas where staff have not been replaced is in Dunedin. If a big story were to happen south of Christchurch—it could be another Aramoana-type massacre or another Bain murder—Radio New Zealand is now in a position where it does not have a person on the ground. Radio New Zealand will probably have to put someone on a bus—no doubt that person will have to pay for himself or herself—to Dunedin in order to cover that story. That is not good enough. 
Time after time we have seen Radio New Zealand in the news. I say that it is the job of Radio New Zealand to present and to report the news. It is not its job to be the news. The absolute dysfunction that has been occurring within Radio New Zealand has caused a number of high-profile stories—be they about Sean Plunket Lynn Snowdon or other key staff members—to hit the news. Those staff members are extremely unhappy because they cannot do the job that they are there to do. A Deloitte’s report has described staff as being at breaking point—and they have good reason. People who work within the news are usually very passionate about the stories that they want to tell. If they do not have the resources to do that then morale is one of the first things to deteriorate. It is not about money either. The chairman of Radio New Zealand sat in front of the select committee and said: “It’s because we don’t have enough funding.” The amount of money that Radio New Zealand receives is over $23 million per annum. I say that it is not about the amount of funding but the way it is being spent and we can see that if we look at the number of consultancy reports that have been done to identify problems within the newsroom alone. Again I agreed with the engineers union delegate when he said that they know what the answers are and do not need a consultant. He said that they do not need some butt-covering consultant’s report to tell them what the real problems are. 
The real problems are at the top. One of the key things that the present management has to consider is what its future is within Radio New Zealand. It has certainly had enough time to improve things within the organisation. I am a great believer that there does come a time when no amount of navel-gazing and reports will make any difference. Eventually management has to consider its options. Even the Minister had some comments to make when he first became involved with Radio New Zealand. He said: “I think it could do better. I would like to see Radio New Zealand being an exciting compulsive piece of media and I don’t think it is right now.” He then backed off from those comments at 100 miles per hour. But I think that that was probably one of the most telling comments made about Radio New Zealand. When members opposite were in Opposition they made a huge song and dance about newsroom cuts as just one example. Now those members are into their fourth year in Government and they are doing more to damage the newsroom—deliberately—than has ever been done in the past. 
One of the ways we can measure the performance of Radio New Zealand is by the number of people who listen to it at any given time. I was shocked to see the number of listeners who had switched off their radios in just 12 months. In 2001 535000 people were listening to National Radio and 502000 in 2002. There was also a dramatic decline in Concert FM listeners. That figure went from 160000 to 145000. That is a significant number of people who have turned off their radios. Actually I do not think they have turned off their radios; I think they have turned the dial and started listening to other radio stations. The management has to accept that what has been going on over the last few months has had a dramatic impact on the quality of programming and the sorts of programmes that have been put on air. The management has as one of its performance targets the rather “Eeyore-ish” objective that “the audience for the period under review will not reduce by more than 10 percent when compared with the previous year’s corresponding survey of listeners.” If we take that as being the objective over the next few years or so there will not be any listeners. If we are saying that a reduction in 10 percent every year is OK then it sort of becomes a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy. 
Things quite simply have to change. This issue is not about money; it is about accepting that there are problems within the organisation itself. It is the role of Radio New Zealand to present the news not to be the news. Reporters need the resources to be able to present the news in an effective way and decisions need to be made about whether the present management stays. Quite clearly things are not working. The Minister knows that he has a very dysfunctional organisation but he has done nothing to fix it. No amount of consultancy reports will make one skerrick of difference. As described in one of the latest news reports staff are at breaking point and I can understand why. In terms of the Dunedin part of the operation it is absolutely shameful that there has not been a reporter there since September. How does Radio New Zealand expect to cover stories from around the country if it does not have people on the ground? The whole point of funding National Radio is so that it can tell stories. If these issues are not sorted out then no amount of pontificating about a 2-page bill will make any difference.