Ardern Shane: Radio New Zealand Amendment Bill — In Committee Third Reading 
Ardern Shane: Radio New Zealand Amendment Bill — In Committee Third Reading 
[Volume:616;Page:12263] 
SHANE ARDERN (National—Taranaki - King Country) 
: 
 Finally I get to make a contribution in the third reading of the Radio New Zealand Amendment Bill. I rise to speak in opposition to the bill and I do so for a number of reasons. I was interested to hear the contribution from the previous speaker and also the contributions from both the Greens and United Future. Those members talked about the importance of having an independent State-owned subsidised radio station. I am not sure whether I am philosophically in agreement with that but that is not what the debate is about. The reason why we are opposed to this bill tonight is the very reason that they put forward—that this radio station is valuable and we want it to survive. 
There is an old cliché that goes with socialist Governments: if it moves tax it; if it keeps moving tax it a bit more; and if it stops moving subsidise it so we can get it moving again. This is a subsidised radio station to start with. The Government cannot apply that cliche so what does it have here? The Government has a charter that is so convoluted and so difficult for anybody to ever achieve its objectives that it will strangle the radio station that way. The Government cannot tax it until it is dead so it will strangle it with its charter. 
Words fail me but members should look at some of the social engineering and rhetoric in this charter. It could be introduced only by a socialist Government such as the one on the other side of the House. The words “spiritual and ethical” are in the bill but the Minister said in the first reading that those words do not mean religious denomination. I was confused and not quite up to speed with what they mean so I went to the  
Concise 
Oxford Dictionary 
 to find out. They do mean religious denomination so obviously in the new Radio New Zealand charter the Labour Party will recreate a new  
Concise 
Oxford Dictionary 
 according to the principles of Helen Clark. That is what it will do. 
We have had a bit of discussion recently in public and in the media about the whole issue of religion according to the Prime Minister. She says she is agnostic. Maybe one of the members on the other side—the Minister over there—will take a call and clear some of this up for us. Maybe he will maybe he will not—there has been no evidence of it so far. Maybe “spiritual” means agnostic but that is not what the  
Concise 
Oxford Dictionary 
 says. That is the whole basis of our opposition. The fact is that this will create endless ambiguity around what Radio New Zealand is supposed to deliver. “Spiritual” means a lot of different things to a lot of different people. 
So then we turn to Radio New Zealand. This legislation says that Radio New Zealand has to meet the needs of all age groups. So it is going to meet all spiritual needs and the needs of all age groups? I am really starting to despair. It is a bit too late at 11.30 p.m. for those at home in Taranaki - King Country to be listening to this debate on their valve radios but those listening to their cowshed radios in the morning will not understand for one moment what they mean by the Radio New Zealand charter. They will not have a clue what it means. 
United Future surprised me when its members said in very passionate speeches that they supported the passage of this bill and the introduction of the words “spiritual and ethical” into the charter. I always understood that for United Future the words meant religious denomination. Obviously the public of New Zealand are confused about what United Future stands for. I thought that is what the words meant. Clearly they do not so that is a revelation to those who might be listening out there. 
One part of this legislation might be useful and it is that the Government will conduct surveys to find out what both the listening public of Radio New Zealand and non-listeners think about the service. But the problem with that is that this Government has conducted many surveys in its term. It listens to the ones it wants to hear and ignores the ones that come up with a result that is not what it wants to hear. So will the Government take any notice of the responses from the survey? If the Government does take notice of surveys can it explain to me which survey was conducted and how that survey came up with the notion that it should introduce into the charter of Radio New Zealand the term “spiritual and ethical”? 
I do not know of any survey or any public opinion poll that suggests that that should be so. Certainly those who made submissions on the bill had concerns about it and raised those concerns in their submissions. Certainly members on this side of the House who have contributed to the debate have overwhelming raised that as an issue of concern. The Government was not even going to allow this issue to be properly aired. It was going to slip it through in an omnibus-type way so that it could not be debated tonight. The fact is that those kinds of bills are supposed to be non-controversial. We cannot introduce into the charter of Radio New Zealand terms like “spiritual and ethical” and not expect at some stage that it will be controversial. I hope that a Minister or somebody on the other side of the House who might have a view on this issue will take a call and explain to us what they mean by that. 
The charter as it stands at the moment—as it is prescribed in this legislation—will do nothing but strangle Radio New Zealand and that will be a great pity. There are a number of us who listen to it. There are a number of us who believe that at times it is fairly balanced. There are a number of us who participate in debates on Radio New Zealand. We do not understand so we wish the Government would explain to us how under this charter Radio New Zealand will be able to live up to all these objectives. 
Further on in the legislation we see that the Government will also include in new section 7(1)(ga) of the principal Act the term “Radio New Zealand International” which means that Radio New Zealand will have to cater for the Pacific Islands and other nations with different languages. So now we have Radio New Zealand catering to all age groups meeting all the spiritual and ethical needs of the nation and also having to cater for multiple languages. This station will have to work a miracle. The subsidy the Government will provide will have to increase tenfold or it will have to double triple or quadruple the amount of air time the station has. I do not know what it will have to do but it will certainly have to perform a miracle to achieve the objectives set out in the charter as prescribed here tonight. 
It is interesting to note that several Ministers are here tonight and not one of them has taken a call to explain to us in this third reading what this all means how it will be achieved and when they think they will be able to achieve this objective for the public of New Zealand.