Shanks Katrina: Radio New Zealand Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Shanks Katrina: Radio New Zealand Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:655;Page:4640] 
KATRINA SHANKS (National) 
: 
 It is my pleasure to rise and speak to the Radio New Zealand Amendment Bill tonight. The bill amends the Radio New Zealand Act of 1995 and contains a new Radio New Zealand charter that has resulted from a parliamentary review required by the Act. This charter is reviewed by the House of Representatives at 5-yearly intervals to ensure that the charter stays current in the changing environment that we live in. Radio New Zealand’s proposed new draft is considered as part of the Commerce Committee’s review and is reflected in this bill. No other review was performed apart from the select committee review when it was taken into consideration. Formulating a charter is considered to be best practice for public broadcasters. 
Radio New Zealand began its charter review process by examining the charters of various comparable public broadcasters including those of the United Kingdom Australia and Canada. The review sought to ensure that the revised draft was expressed as a set of aspirations in simple and accessible language. It was also to be technology neutral and to differentiate Radio New Zealand clearly from commercial broadcasters. It is very important that we maintain that difference and that gap so it is unique in its own right. The draft of the revised charter was approved for public discussion by Radio New Zealand’s board of governors and the Minister of Broadcasting. Radio New Zealand then initiated an extensive consultation process. On-air promotions broadcast 37 times on Radio New Zealand National and 17 times on Radio New Zealand Concert between 18 October and 2 November 2005. The deadline for public responses was pretty rapid on 4 November and Radio New Zealand estimated that the on-air promotions reached 16 percent of all New Zealanders aged 15 and over. And 16 percent is not a bad hit for the people it wanted to touch in order for them to put in a submission or a view on how the charter would affect them in their lives. 
It is important that we ensure that we protect this charter and the integrity of the programmes that are made under it. More important Radio New Zealand estimates that 460000 of its listeners heard the charter review information at least once. That number of 460000 is a big touch. Not many people can provide that number when we ask for submissions on a normal inquiry. It is an approach that we should maybe have for all submissions if we can get a touch like that at 460000. Some 118 individuals and organisations that had made submissions on the previous charter review in 2000 were invited directly to make submissions as were those who had commented on issues relating to Radio New Zealand in the intervening 5 years. In addition there were approximately 3000 hits on the charter review section of the Radio New Zealand website during the public consultation process. So the public had a wonderful chance to be informed to understand exactly how the charter would impact on them and to have an input into that process. 
The Commerce Committee chose a great democratic process. A total of 165 submissions were received and analysed for the Minister for Arts Culture and Heritage. As a result eight minor amendments were made to the draft charter. A copy of this charter was provided to the Ministers and it was appended and presented to the House. The public consultation process was considered to be of a satisfactory standard so it was unnecessary to conduct a public submission to go through the matter and to get people’s opinions. It was interesting though that the select committee went on to say that it wanted to ensure and strongly recommend the retention of the word “spiritual” in the charter. That desire came through very clearly in submissions and it was good to see that this stayed in and appears in the context of the requirement that Radio New Zealand endeavour to “contribute towards intellectual and spiritual development:”. So that element which had come very strongly from submitters was maintained. The interaction between religion and international politics has become one of the most significant issues in many parts of the world; therefore it was good to see that that will be well-covered in Radio New Zealand’s programming. 
The charter states that the purpose of Radio New Zealand is to be a public broadcaster which is followed by provisions stating how it achieves that purpose through delivery of its services. The adoption of the revised charter supports the Government’s manifesto commitment that provides certainty to the operations of public broadcasters. And that is very important. If we want to keep our high standard of public broadcasters we have to ensure a certainty of the operations—that they will be going from year to year and even for much longer. This charter is for a 5-year period so it is important we have a vision in place and some aspirations and a framework in which our top-class public broadcasters will stay with Radio New Zealand. The revised wording streamlines and clarifies the charter especially by defining “commercial-free” but does not materially alter the role and expectations of Radio New Zealand. 
The amendment charter is divided into two key parts: purpose and delivery. The first makes an explicit statement on Radio New Zealand’s purpose as being “to serve the public interest.” and how this can be achieved through public broadcasting principles. The part about serving the public interest is interesting in itself because many people have a different definition of what a public interest actually is. It is good that this charter has kept that wide so that we can have a broad range of programmes running through Radio New Zealand and a broad range of ideas coming forward as to what programmes there should be in the future as our society changes and the needs of listeners change as well—as do the demographics to a certain extent. The second part expands on delivery: the way that Radio New Zealand can deliver the charter. The bill is consistent with the rights and freedoms set out in the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 and the bill clarifies that the clock will not start ticking on the next 5-yearly review until the bill comes into law. That takes into account the fact that there may be a significant time lag between the start of a review and a new charter coming into force. So it will not necessarily be 5 years exactly but it will be around the 5-year period. 
The previous Government had proposed to disestablish Radio New Zealand as a Crown entity company and to establish it as an autonomous Crown entity. This will not go ahead because there is no compelling reason for that change. An appropriate balance of independence operational flexibility and well-understood transparency and accountability measures are best served by maintaining Radio New Zealand as a Crown entity company. The corporate form provides a flexible operational framework backed up by a well-established and transparent set of Government responsibilities. It can accommodate both commercial and non-commercial entities. Examples of not-for-profit companies include primary health organisations and Catholic school health boards. Crown research institutes are an example of Crown entity companies that like Radio New Zealand have a significant public service character and are constituted as companies. It is my pleasure to support this bill here tonight.