Robertson Grant: Arts Council of New Zealand Toi Aotearoa Bill — First Reading 
Robertson Grant: Arts Council of New Zealand Toi Aotearoa Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:665;Page:13095] 
GRANT ROBERTSON (Labour—Wellington Central) 
: 
 I am pleased to be able to rise and speak on the Arts Council of New Zealand Toi Aotearoa Bill. I acknowledge how well-dressed the Assistant Speaker is. I particularly admire his tie—a common thing on this side of the House today I see. This bill that the Minister has brought to the House is one that Labour is prepared to support going through to a select committee because we understand that a number of issues have been raised around the efficiency and the operations of the Arts Council or Creative New Zealand as it is commonly called. But our support for the bill is only for it to go to a select committee. 
We have a number of concerns which the Minister himself alluded to at the end of his speech about representation and about the ability of the restructured council to fairly represent the diversity of people in New Zealand and fairly represent the arts communities of New Zealand through this model. When the bill goes to Parliament’s all-powerful Government Administration Committee we will want to hear a wide range of submissions. In fact I will encourage the Government Administration Committee to go out and seek direct feedback from the Maori and Pacific communities and also from other communities in New Zealand particularly the growing Asian communities. It is worth noting that Creative New Zealand has a very difficult job in balancing up the different arts communities in New Zealand. It looks on paper as though creating a structure such as this will be efficient and will allow for more direct accountability but it raises questions about the ability to be representative of those different communities. That is certainly what we will be looking out for. 
Any change that creates efficiency in a Government body is a good thing but efficiency has to be balanced against the purpose of an organisation. The purposes of the Arts Council continue to be reflected in this bill and they are certainly ones that Labour strongly supports. The Arts Council has done as Mr Finlayson mentioned earlier some excellent things and funded some excellent programmes—many of them events and groups that were developed under the previous Labour Government and we are very pleased to see that those things are continuing. But the purposes and principles of the Arts Council are to recognise the cultural diversity of the people of New Zealand recognise the role of Maori as tangata whenua recognise the role of the arts for Pacific peoples and support participation and involvement in the arts and access to the arts. 
Another concern that we would also like to take up at the select committee is the role of the community arts councils. I appreciate the fact that the bill continues to provide for community arts councils at a local level but we need to make sure that the arrangements facilitate community arts councils being both directly accountable to their communities and representative of them. It would be fair to say there are some concerns around different parts of the community arts sector about whether this model will see the arts moving further away from local communities and more towards major towns and centralised into perhaps what some would call a Wellington-based mind-set. As someone who perhaps has a Wellington-based mind-set I can understand though why people— 
John Hayes 
: Or even no mind-set. 
GRANT ROBERTSON 
: —perhaps in Mr Hayes’ electorate in the Wairarapa may look at some of the proposals and ask what is in them for the provinces. 
Obviously those concerns are heightened with the recent announcement by the Arts Council regarding the recurrently funded organisations. We look particularly at the theatre sector where we see that in the new arts leadership fund which has been put forward to replace part of the funding of the recurrently funded organisations— 
Hon Christopher Finlayson 
: For discussion. 
GRANT ROBERTSON 
: —or put out for discussion; I am sorry I say to Mr Finlayson. It is obviously a consultative process but there is quite a lot of concern about that in places like Palmerston North and Dunedin where it is quite likely that organisations will receive no recurrent funding. That will obviously be detrimental to those communities. At the moment the proposal tells us that there will be support available for three theatre companies only: one in Christchurch one in Auckland and one in Wellington. In fact that presents problems even in Wellington where currently two theatre companies receive recurrent funding. 
So there is concern about the direction of the Arts Council in terms of regional and provincial arts support. Anything that is done structurally as it is done in this bill that might exacerbate that problem is something that we will be watching extremely carefully. 
I hear two things from the arts community as I travel around New Zealand. There is some dissatisfaction with the way in which the arts are funded. Certainly in regional areas that has never been any different whoever the Government is. People who miss out on funding are always upset about that. But it is important to have a system that ensures that funding is spread around the country and people are concerned about that. 
Hon Christopher Finlayson 
: And demography needs to talk. 
GRANT ROBERTSON 
: Indeed. The other concern that people have is about the question of certainty and the ability to plan within the arts community. I think that is the chief concern of those people in provincial areas who look set now to miss out on recurrent funding. They may well be able to apply for the shorter-term funds that the Minister is proposing but that does not give them or their communities certainty about the future of arts funding. These are the issues that the select committee needs to take up in some detail. 
On the question of representation it is all very well to say there will be Maori and Pasifika representation on the newly reconstituted board but that is very difficult as many people in the House will know when boards like this are set up. It will put a great deal of pressure on the four members who are Maori or the two members who are of Pasifika origin. It will put a great deal of pressure on them to be able to represent those communities. I think we need to work through that issue in the select committee to see whether it will provide the kind of representation of those communities that we need. As I stated earlier we also have some concerns about other communities who are developing artistic profiles in New Zealand particularly Asian communities. 
Dr Ashraf Choudhary 
: Ten percent. 
GRANT ROBERTSON 
: Indeed. A number of us have attended Creative New Zealand - funded events involving the Asian community and I think most of us would like to see that develop more over time. It will be important that the reconstituted arts board is able to represent those concerns. There is also the matter of youth participation in the arts and of making sure that that perspective continues to be seen. Those are the issues that we will want to tease out. 
I want to mention the comment that the Minister made that the council will now no longer be able to— 
Jacqui Dean 
: Take the full 10 minutes. 
GRANT ROBERTSON 
: It is a very important issue I say to Ms Dean. The council will no longer have to put in place a 3-year strategic plan. It will use the statement of intent process. Again that is an issue in terms of certainty and planning and I think there is some justification for the council taking a longer-term strategic approach. Ministers and those who have worked in Ministers’ offices know all about the statement of intent process and it is not as perfect as it might be. 
Hon Christopher Finlayson 
: In my office it is. 
GRANT ROBERTSON 
: Everything in that Minister’s office is perfect. He has led a life of blameless excellence. I do not think it is sufficient for the statement of intent process to guide the work of the Arts Council. I think that the 3-year strategic plan process has been a good one and certainly Labour at this point will be seeking to have that reinserted into this bill. 
It is not always possible when we are at arts events as Mr Finlayson and I often are to be able to say we are covering all the arts. That is the thought that I will conclude on. It is vitally important that the Arts Council supports a balanced provision of the arts. Mr Finlayson and I will be going to a performance of the Orpheus Choir in a couple of weeks’ time here in Wellington and no doubt he will be attending many other events as he does. He may even find his way down to Bar Bodega to see some of the New Zealand music that is performed there or go to Palmerston North to see the Centrepoint Theatre. We need to continue to support a balanced provision of the arts in New Zealand and we need to ensure that the council that sits behind them is structured in a way that allows it to facilitate that balanced provision. That is what we will be seeking when this bill goes to the select committee. We will make our judgment after the select committee process as to whether we will support the bill going any further than that.