Smith Murray: Maori Television Service Bill — In Committee 
Smith Murray: Maori Television Service Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:607;Page:5079] 
MURRAY SMITH (United Future) 
: 
 I am concerned at the proposal in this part to terminate the Te Reo Maori Television Trust. It seems to me that the replacement which is the channel itself together with Te Putahi Paoho is focused too much on this particular proposal in terms of the advancement of te reo by television. I envisage that the Te Reo Maori Television Trust would take—and it does take—a far broader approach to the issue of promoting te reo on television generally. That is what we need here. We need a body with Maori on it that looks at the wider issues of how te reo is best promoted on national television. 
As I indicated before I am simply not convinced that we should isolate Maori television and te reo education if that happens on a separate channel that hardly anybody will watch and that not very many people will have access to by the sound of it. That will simply isolate the language and put it to one side. In fact it will be destructive of te reo in New Zealand rather than helpful to it. We really need to have a trust such as Te Reo Maori Television Trust to look at the broad perspective of how we promote te reo on nationwide television. 
 I note that in the  
New Zealand Maori Council 
 v  
Attorney-General 
 case which the Government tells us is the foundation for why it is promoting this service the comment was made that it is necessary for there to be mass exposure to te reo throughout New Zealand. That is how we will advance te reo in New Zealand—through mass exposure to the language not by the restricted and confined exposure that will occur when we simply have one fringe channel that is watched by a minority of people and that may or may not deliver education. The Government is sidelining te reo; it is not promoting te reo amongst the general New Zealand population. 
Stephen Franks 
: I raise a point of order Madam Chairperson. I ask the same question about relevance that was previously asked by the Leader of the House. 
MURRAY SMITH 
: The essential point if my friend was listening was the termination of the Te Reo Maori Television Trust. 
The CHAIRPERSON (Ann Hartley) 
: Yes the member is correct. He is sticking to the part. 
MURRAY SMITH 
: I note also in new clause 76A that a review is talked about to occur in 5 years’ time. I do not have the optimism of my friend Ron Mark who thinks we will have a wide-ranging review because if he looks at subclause (2) in new clause 76A he will see it states: “Prior to commencing the review referred to … the responsible Ministers must consult with Te Putahi Paoho on the terms of reference for the review.” It states there that the Minister who now has an obligation in terms of the promotion of the Maori Television Service—in the way that the Government wants to promote it through that restrictive channel—has to consult with the body that will in fact head the review on the terms of reference. I can see that those terms of reference will not be terms that will look at wide-ranging issues like whether we still need the television channel because we are asking that body effectively to look at voting itself out of existence. 
I am not confident that the review procedure in the legislation will provide the sort of wide-ranging review that we will need. I do not think even the Government is confident of that because we have already seen previously in clause 28C on Supplementary Order Paper 77 a sort of expectation by the Government that the UHF right will cease to be used. There is almost an expectation of failure for the service because the Government has now put in by way of that Supplementary Order Paper all those provisions that set out what happens if the service does not require the UHF right ceases to use the spectrum licences or proposes to transfer the UHF right to a third party. What does the Government envisage in such provisions? How long will this channel keep going? 
I think this review is not broad ranging enough and if we still had the Te Reo Maori Television Trust operating then it could continue to assess whether this proposal of the Government continues to be the most effective way of trying to get as many New Zealanders as possible familiar with te reo and more and more fluent in it. That will not happen. I and some other members are attending a te reo course at the moment. This bill is like saying that only members of the Maori caucus would be told about that te reo course because we were confining it to them.