Hodgson Pete: Radio New Zealand Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Hodgson Pete: Radio New Zealand Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:607;Page:4661] 
Hon PETE HODGSON (Minister of Energy) 
 on behalf of the 
 Minister of Broadcasting 
: I move  
That the Radio New Zealand Amendment Bill be now read a first time. 
 At the appropriate time I intend to move that the bill be referred to the Commerce Committee. Under the Radio New Zealand Act the Radio New Zealand charter is required to be reviewed by the House of Representatives at 5-yearly intervals. The previous Minister of Broadcasting my colleague Marian Hobbs invited the Commerce Committee to undertake the first review of the charter on behalf of the House. The review process was begun in December 2000 and the select committee tabled its report the  
Review of the Radio New Zealand Charter 
 on 21 December 2001. I am grateful to the committee members for their work and to the individuals and groups whose submissions informed the considerations of the committee. 
The select committee’s report was supportive of the charter in its present form and proposed only a few minor legislative enhancements to assist Radio New Zealand to engage fully with the spirit of its charter. In proposing those amendments the select committee acknowledged that the changes needed to be phrased in broad terms so as to remain relevant and useful to the charter. The legislative amendments recommended in the report reflect the consensus reached by the select committee. Following the select committee process the proposed amendments to the Radio New Zealand Act were originally drafted for inclusion in the Statutes Amendment Bill (No 3) 2002. However after consultation with the other political parties represented in Parliament support for that course of action was withheld by four of those parties. The purpose of this bill therefore is to make minor amendments to the charter in terms of the select committee report. The provisions for amendment in this bill cover three key areas and with one exception reflect current practice at Radio New Zealand. 
The first two provisions expand the wording of the charter to ensure that it more effectively conveys the needs of New Zealand society. The bill modifies the charter to require our public radio broadcaster to provide programmes that contribute towards spiritual and ethical development in addition to the contribution to intellectual scientific and cultural development required at present. It also requires the broadcaster to include programmes for a full range of age groups confirming the need to provide for the needs of children. The third provision refers to Radio New Zealand’s unique broadcasting service in the South Pacific region. The bill acknowledges the operations of Radio New Zealand International which was provided with additional funding by this Government in 2002 through Vote Arts Culture and Heritage and currently provides effective short-wave radio broadcasts to the South Pacific region. 
The remaining provisions of the bill ensure that Radio New Zealand will continue to be assisted in fulfilling its public broadcasting role by undertaking formal surveys and reporting on those survey results and on consequent action to shareholding Ministers. Those surveys will assess the views of Radio New Zealand’s audience on the organisation’s fulfilment of its charter. This bill also requires Radio New Zealand to survey for the first time the views of non-listeners to Radio New Zealand to inform its future programming decisions. This process of reviewing Radio New Zealand against its charter has now been under way for 3 years. The review has involved a lengthy submission and consultation process along with a slow but steady passage through governmental and parliamentary processes. I am now hopeful that the considered review of the charter provisions of the Commerce Committee agreed by the Government can be enacted as soon as possible for the benefit of Radio New Zealand’s audience.