Bakshi Kanwaljit Singh: Radio New Zealand Amendment Bill — Second ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeBakshi Kanwaljit Singh: Radio New Zealand Amendment Bill — Second Reading[Sitting date: 20 May 2015. Volume:705;Page:3482. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]KANWALJIT SINGH BAKSHI (National): Thank you for allowing me to speak on the second reading of the Radio New Zealand Amendment Bill. It is a well-established fact that Radio New Zealand delivers quality content to its listeners. I am a big fan of radio and normally whenever I am travelling I prefer to listen to the radio rather than to any other media. The technology is changing but still I am a big fan of radio. The four radio stations that I normally switch between are: Radio New Zealand Newstalk ZB BBC and Radio Tarana. When I came to New Zealand in 2001 Radio Tarana was the only Indian radio channel available for a few hours in the day which kept us connected to our homeland. I appreciate that having gone from strength to strength Radio Tarana is now a 24-hour Indian radio channel and it has a very wide audience. I congratulate that team.Radio New Zealand is one of those stations that deliver an unbiased viewpoint and I normally listen to this radio station from time to time. It has got a long history. It was established as a public broadcaster in 1925 and at that time the funding was given through the radio licences—25 shillings out of each licence issued at that time. Then it continued and as the demand grew the company was established in 1931 when the Government appointed the New Zealand Broadcasting Board. It was dependent upon the licence fee. In 1936 the Government established the New Zealand Broadcasting Service as a Government department which soon added fully commercial radio stations also. After the war the New Zealand Broadcasting Service’s Government department status was ended in 1962 and the Government established the New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation. During the next 30 years the system was changed numerous times but public non-commercial radio service remained its integral part.Given the changing technology there are some other facts that are very relevant today that I would like to share with this House. In 2014 Radio New Zealand’s live accumulative audience for its National and Concert audience was 484000. In 2013-14 3.5 million podcasts were downloaded. In 2013-14 Radio New Zealand’s homepage reached 21 million viewings. In 2014 unique users of the website grew by over 50 percent. In 2013 again on a regular basis Radio New Zealand’s mobile app grew by almost 62 percent. I am sharing this with the House because the technology is changing. Nowadays youngsters prefer using different media from the normal radio. I inherited this habit of listening to the radio from my father who used to listen to the radio all the time. At that time there were no satellite televisions and there was not much broadcasting on television. I remember that the last news broadcast used to be at 12 o’clock midnight. He used to listen to that before going to bed. I inherited that habit of listening to the radio from him.It is because of the quality of its programmes that Radio New Zealand remains the preferred radio station. Radio New Zealand provides content that some of the private broadcasters may not be able to do due to their commercial realities. In contrast Radio New Zealand delivers its content independently. By way of this bill we want to ensure that Radio New Zealand continues to deliver quality unbiased content to its listeners. Furthermore by way of legislation we also want to ensure that new media and technologies that Radio New Zealand intends to implement are also allowed to deliver quality and unbiased programmes.Some of the previous speakers mentioned that the budget has been frozen and no additional money has been given to Radio New Zealand. But I want to say that I appreciate the Radio New Zealand team the technicians and the leadership for using what they are given. They manage their programmes very well. I remember at one of the briefings that we had from Radio New Zealand at the Commerce Committee they mentioned that the technology that has been developed at Radio New Zealand helped them to go further and use that technology within the budget so that they can improve the quality of the programmes.This once again shows the National-led Government’s commitment to delivering better public services. I take this opportunity to congratulate the honourable Minister Amy Adams on taking the initiative of progressing this bill. We have time and again shown how serious we are towards our commitment to improving public services in all areas big or small.The current legislation is focused towards simplifying Radio New Zealand’s charter. It makes a strong statement on the purpose of Radio New Zealand and how its charter will deliver for the benefit of all New Zealanders. The charter was prepared after public consultation and was well deliberated on by the select committee. The committee received over 165 submissions. The committee also considered the existing charter and the legislation. After thorough analysis of all aspects the bill we are debating today was introduced to the House in 2009. All this work has meant that we have legislation that ensures futuristic thinking and the best results for the public of New Zealand.Based on the review we now have a clause that caters to the new and emerging technologies in the media space. The world of technology is ever-evolving and now everywhere we see more and new media in use. The other day while watching the New Zealand - South Africa Cricket World Cup semi-final I saw a drone flying over Eden Park covering the entire match from an eagle’s-eye view. We thought that drones were limited only to defence technology—in this case it was for New Zealand radio. This clause will ensure that the broadcaster takes advantage of the most effective means of delivery and provides the best user experience.Furthermore the charter recognises that New Zealand is now a very multicultural society. Keeping this in mind the charter states that the diverse forms of cultural programming including but not limited to drama comedy literature and the performing arts need to form an essential part of Radio New Zealand’s programming. I remember when I once asked the Radio New Zealand officials what their thoughts were about the diverse communities and the diaspora of New Zealand. They mentioned that they are planning to have in the near future as communities are getting diverse traditional programmes available like in Hindi Mandarin and Cantonese. I hope the day is not far away when the technology will allow Radio New Zealand to have such programmes to be broadcast from its platforms.Of course the modern-day era requires that there be a balance between providing social content and the ability of the organisation to earn commercial revenue from its operations. Amongst its various social obligations Radio New Zealand remains our go-to station in case of any civil defence emergencies. The legislation permits Radio New Zealand to be able to market its products and services such as broadcasting and media services.Bill read a second time.