Martin Tracey: Radio New Zealand Amendment Bill — Third ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeMartin Tracey: Radio New Zealand Amendment Bill — Third Reading[Sitting date: 30 March 2016. Volume:712;Page:10078. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]TRACEY MARTIN (NZ First): Halleluja is all I can say. Halleluja! Finally finally! I am not going to take my whole 10 minutes because this Government has stalled this bill for 7 years. Seven years—it is a magic figure with this bill. Seven years ago it was reported back to this Government and 7 years ago Radio New Zealand needed more money. So for the last 7 years there has been no more money. “What?” I ask myself as I notice people whining away. This bill dropped off the Order Paper at the end of last night but suddenly it has reappeared today. With this bill that is very quick for this Government. So what is different? What has changed?I think Mr Hudson told us what changed—the Commerce Committee finally heard from Radio New Zealand that it has given up on asking this Government to fund it appropriately. In his contribution it was interesting that Mr Hudson talked about how Radio New Zealand was going to embrace the digital environment and how it had met the digital challenge and so on and so forth. No more money of course—no more money. They do not intend to get any more money. Now that it has finally kowtowed now that it has finally decided that there is no point in asking this Government for more money it might just get a charter. It might just get a charter that is hugely overdue.I think the other thing that is interesting is that obviously Mr Hudson has never read the incoming briefing paper to the Minister which was put in by Radio New Zealand after the 2014 election where it said: “We cannot do what you ask us to do unless we actually have more budget. We cannot be starved for funding in this way and then provide the service not just to New Zealand but out into the Pacific and beyond that in the way that you ask us to do it.” But does this Government care? No this Government does not care. Of course this Government does not care.If there was one thing that I agreed with Ms Genter on it is that actually the Government hates public broadcasting—it hates public broadcasting. It believes that all broadcasting should be privatised because that is what suits this Government—that is what suits the National Party. And it is disingenuous for the politicians sitting on that side of the House with their track record around public institutions to actually laugh it off. It is disingenuous. It goes from railways to housing to finally we believe radio stations—airwaves. It goes on and on and on. So this is just another way of starving Radio New Zealand to the point that it either folds or this Government can say that it is not producing—that it is a Government organisation or a Government body a public body that is not producing at the level it should and that it would be better run by the private sector. Let us wait and see whether we see that shall we?In New Zealand First we are thrilled. I am not going to take any more time. I challenge the Government members to get up say that they support this bill and sit down so that the bill gets through before 10 o’clock tonight. I challenge you to do that Mr O’Connor. If you take your full call if the Government members take their full calls it will be an indication of blustering by this Government. It will be an indication of stalling. So if the backbenchers of the National Government get up on the orders of their whip and start taking 10-minute calls then it will be an indication that what members of the Opposition have said is true. Just for the record the junior whip for National has just indicated that they should do exactly that. So just for the record New Zealand everything that the Opposition has said has just been verified by Mr Ross.But let us just see what the charter will have in itwhen we finally get this through. Will we finally see a Radio New Zealand charter that includes a requirement for unbiased reporting around political parties? Will we finally see it say somewhere inside a charter for the public broadcasting service that all political parties must be given a balanced opportunity to put forward their policies etc. to the people of New Zealand? Will we finally see that? With the fear that Radio New Zealand is currently feeling under this administration I think it unlikely. I think Radio New Zealand has learnt its lesson after 7 years of being told to toe the line toe the line toe the line. It has learnt the lesson you were trying to tell it. But Governments change—Governments change. And all Radio New Zealand has to do is hold on because there is a change coming.