Turia Tariana: Standing Orders—Sessional 
Turia Tariana: Standing Orders—Sessional 
[Volume:640;Page:10359] 
TARIANA TURIA (Co-Leader—Maori Party) 
: 
 Tena koe Mr Deputy Speaker. Tena tatou katoa. The popular question that tamariki ask me when I spend time in a kura is what I really do each day. I suppose I could focus on some of the negative aspects of the House but I do not because that is not what the majority of the day is about. The list of work is enormous as any member of this House knows. 
I talk about the role of Parliament as the supreme legislative power and as a consequence our mahi in passing the laws by which Aotearoa is governed; examining amending processing bills; and approving the supply of public funds to run the country. I share the experiences that we have in promoting representation and the mutual obligations that we have both to advocate the views of the people and to represent the work of Parliament back to the constituency. I talk also about the very important role of scrutinising the work of the Government and the ever-thrilling challenge of question time. But I do not talk about the exhaustion that comes with the workload that extends into late evenings and weekends the responsibility of keeping up with mountains of paperwork and all the other core business that comes with the two letters—MP. I totally accept that all of this is part of the role of a member of Parliament. 
But if people were to pick up the  
Dominion Post  
yesterday they would be hard-pressed to see any other role for Parliament than one of pure entertainment a forum of fun and frivolity—all yawning aside—and a place unfortunately to fall asleep in if one is really tired. The fact that my colleague Dr Pita Sharples was last Thursday denied the opportunity to table his signed code of ethics as he attempted to have it added to those of the other 13 members of the MMP parties who had tabled theirs was not seen as news. I suppose good behaviour does not sell newspapers. 
That is why we in the Maori Party have supported the new television coverage rules in our commitment to restore the respect authority and legitimacy of Parliament. The Maori Party debated at great length the importance of focusing on the respective members who were on their feet and on ensuring shots unrelated to the proceedings were not permitted. We were pleased to see that the authority of the Speaker is preserved with the default position always reverting either to the Speaker or to the presiding officer in the Chair. 
There is one particular part of the new rules that has excited the imagination of the fourth estate—that is the direction that coverage of proceedings must not be used in any medium for ridicule or denigration. The Maori Party is particularly supportive of such a ruling in light of the report from the United Nations special rapporteur who highlighted “the systematic negative description of Maori in media coverage”. As a particularly vivid example we need only to cast our memory back to 1975 when television cameras gave extensive coverage to a billboard campaign by property investor Bob Jones attacking the Rowling Labour Government. The billboard that achieved national prominence however was one about the Minister of Maori Affairs Matiu Rata which said: “Matt Rata reads comics”. That a man of such mana a leader of his people was put up as a figure of fun and tormented by the popular press of his day reflects badly on all those involved in such a shameful incident. 
These incidents of so-called ridicule or denigration could also be described as institutional racism. “Nigger” jokes were seen as normal fun and funny—excused I suppose by that childhood chant: “Sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me”. Well really is that so right? It is little wonder that Mohammad Ali in 1966 in refusing to fight for the United States in Viet Nam said: “I ain’t got no quarrel with the Vietcong … no Vietcong ever called me a nigger.” 
Those are the sorts of episodes that a study on Maori in the media undertaken in 2004 reported as being unbalanced in their treatment of Maori—denigrating and insulting. When I picked up the  
Dominion Post 
 yesterday and found that four of the eight unflattering photos of MPs were of Maori MPs—Shane Jones Dover Samuels Ron Mark and myself—I asked what has changed since 1975. I did not bother to complain because I did not feel that it was worth it. But the United Nations special rapporteur was so concerned about the treatment of Maori in the media that he recommended that “Public media should be encouraged to provide a balanced unbiased and non-racist picture of Maori in New Zealand society”—not a number of Maori MPs in a very unflattering way as they were yesterday. 
In light of this it was refreshing yesterday to see the Broadcasting Standards Authority come out with a statement supporting better training in inter-cultural understanding for journalists. The statement from the Broadcasting Standards Authority’s chief executive Dominic Sheehan said it all: “All cultures have a right to be treated fairly by the media. Better journalistic training in other cultures would be a solution to inadvertently offending people’s customs and protocols as a result of a lack of knowledge.” The authority also supported the concept of media campaigns to combat discrimination with Sheehan confirming that such a campaign reflects the important part the media plays in improving communication between cultures. 
I am not generally one to say that I get excited by statements like that but in the midst of an environment of bad news and unflattering photos the leadership shown by the Broadcasting Standards Authority is exciting. I quote from Mr Sheehan again: “While our media is underpinned by the right of free expression we want people from all communities to know that broadcasters have a responsibility to maintain programme standards like the observance of good taste and decency balance fairness accuracy and the privacy of an individual. Included in the standards are safeguards against denigration and discrimination against a group in society.” 
If I were in a courtroom I would tempted to say: “Your honour I rest my case.” but instead in this esteemed “House of Law” I say that nothing more really needs to be said. In the interests of broadcasting standards in respect of our Standing Orders and in compliance with the MMP parties’ own code of conduct for MPs tabled in this House I say that the direction to avoid ridicule or denigration is the right direction for this House to take. Tena koutou.