Mallard Trevor: Broadcasting Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
Mallard Trevor: Broadcasting Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
[Volume:645;Page:14664] 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD (Minister of Broadcasting) 
: 
 I move  
That the Broadcasting Amendment Bill be now read a second time 
. First of all Madam Assistant Speaker in the first opportunity that I have been allowed with you in the Chair can I congratulate you on your elevation. We are old friends and I am pleased there is a reasonable distance between us so that your normal approach to sorting me out cannot be used. In fact it is relatively close to another member’s approach to sorting me out for which I got into some trouble! Also I know that broadcasting is an area you are interested in and for which you had responsibility for some time. 
I am pleased to note that the Commerce Committee has reported the Broadcasting Amendment Bill back to the House. It examined the bill and recommends that it be passed without amendment. I express my appreciation to the select committee. Only two submissions were received on the bill. I take this as a very positive sign that the changes suggested by the bill are timely and relevant. I would like to emphasise also that the broadcasting funding agencies affected by the bill have been closely involved with its development and are in accord with its purpose and form. 
I would like to remind the House briefly of the bill’s content purpose and scope. The object of the bill is to bring New Zealand’s broadcasting funding agencies—New Zealand On Air and Te Mangai Paho—into line with the digital age. Analog transmission will be obsolete within a number of years both in a number of overseas countries and here in New Zealand. At the same time broadcasting light content is appearing on a variety of media devices or platforms such as the Internet or on mobile phones. Those new platforms are being used by broadcasters and content creators to retain and expand their audiences and to serve them better. Under the Broadcasting Act 1989 however the broadcasting funding agencies do not have the ability to provide funding for the content on those platforms. 
Figures from the last census show that in 2006 just over 60 percent of households had access to the Internet and 74.2 percent had access to a mobile phone. I expect that those figures would have increased substantially since that time. There is a whole generation today—the digital native generation—who take digital technology for granted. They speak a different language and it is fair to say that the group is not confined to one generation. I think there are a number of notable people including senior members of this Parliament who are renowned for their texting sometimes in a full short and frank manner. Some people of the younger generation though have grown up texting their friends and using the Internet and it is vital that they have access to quality local content as they use these new programmes. 
To summarise the bill has three main effects on the Broadcasting Act 1989. First it amends Part 4 of the Act relating to the functions of the funding agencies. It permits them to fund the production transmission and archiving of new forms of digital content such as via the Internet or mobile phones. The bill extends to these new areas the Act’s existing provisions relating to the promotion of New Zealand content and the requirement for agencies to consult various interests when making their funding decisions. The bill also carries over the Act’s existing protections against ministerial interference in such decisions and the requirement for funding proposals to be consistent with the standards of section 4(1) of the Broadcasting Act 1989. 
Content on other platforms will be subject to the same set of rules that govern various non-broadcast media under the Films Videos and Publications Classification Act 1993. These extend into content viewed on the Internet. 
Sandra Goudie 
: Mumble mumble. 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: Who’s that? Oh it is Sandra Goudie. She is here. It is wonderful; the member is back again. That is the best contribution that Sandra Goudie has made in this House for at least 1½ years. 
Hon Paul Swain 
: It must be pay week. 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: Well it is pay day—she has turned up. The only time Sandra Goudie comes to the House to make a noise is when it is pay day and she has been out to dinner. 
The functions are presented as supplementing and enhancing the delivery of the agencies’ existing objectives which the bill deems to be primary. The essential role of the agencies— 
Sandra Goudie 
: You can’t even speak properly. 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: The member says that she wants to speak but they will not let her. Well I am with National’s whips; I would not let Sandra Goudie speak either. 
The essential role of the agencies to subsidise content where it would not otherwise be produced and is not considered to be commercially viable is not altered by the bill. 
Secondly the member opposite will be pleased to know that the bill adds two new terms or definitions to section 2(1) of the Act—the interpretation part. These definitions are “content” and “transmit on demand”. Seeing that the member has no content and that there is not much demand for her I think it will not mean much to her. But these terms encompass types of content or producers of content intended for digital platforms that currently fall outside the Broadcasting Act’s definitions of broadcasting and programmes because when the legislation went through in 1989 people were not thinking about digital content. The existing definitions which also apply elsewhere in the Act will be retained but for the purposes of the two funding agencies they will be supplemented by the new terms. They will allow the Act’s concepts to extend over the increasing array of interactive and on-demand forms of distribution made possible by technology. 
I say to members that there is a very interesting discussion document out at the moment which I would recommend to people. This area is pretty agreed and one might even say dry. There is not much debate about this area. But the discussion to be had about the question of convergence and what that means for our regulatory environment is something that is very important going forward. If we do not look at it then we do not look at it at our peril. 
Dr Jonathan Coleman 
: If we don’t look at it we don’t look at it. 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: We do not look at it at our peril. The member knows a bit about peril—the member got a bit of peril when he smoked a cigar I think. [ 
Interruption 
] Shall we go back to that? I am happy to have that debate anytime. 
Chris Tremain 
: You’re happy to hop into that ring aren’t you? 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: Well I am happy to compare myself with Nick Smith who of course dropped John Carter; and with David Carter who hit Roger Sowry—shall we go through the list of National Party members? 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Marian Hobbs) 
: No I think we would prefer to be getting on with the speech. 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: Well I—[ 
Interruption 
] Is it? None of it was recorded. None of it was recorded at the time I think—thank goodness! 
Third and finally there is an important change to allow Te Mangai Paho to fund the archiving of Maori language and culture programmes in general. Of course this is something that should have happened originally. 
To sum up it is vital that our broadcasting infrastructure and ways of supporting local content remain relevant and effective in the digital era. 
Dr Jonathan Coleman 
: That’s what the officials are telling us anyway. 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: Well some of us are slightly ahead of officials on digital matters and some of us—I think it was Mr Swain back in about 2000—had quite a lot to do with this area of work working closely with the then Minister. I am not sure what has happened in the interim but I am glad that we have made some real progress now.