Curran Clare: Radio New Zealand Amendment Bill — Second ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeCurran Clare: Radio New Zealand Amendment Bill — Second Reading[Sitting date: 19 May 2015. Volume:705;Page:3428. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]CLARE CURRAN (Labour—Dunedin South): I listened very very hard to that speech and I am not sure that we were talking about the same bill. I listened very hard for the words “sorry” and “embarrassed” but I did not hear them. Did you hear them? I did not hear them. I listened very hard for those words because this could be the bill that has been sitting for the longest time on the Order Paper in the term of this Government while it has been in power.The bill was introduced in June 2009—so nearly 6 years ago—and here we have the Minister talking about it as futureproofing and modernising Radio New Zealand. Well I am not sure how this bill is actually modernising Radio New Zealand when it is based on a review of the Radio New Zealand charter that was finished in 2006 which is nearly 10 years ago. So if that is the Minister’s idea of modernising well I think that tells us all something tonight.Just a little history lesson for the Minister in case she is not aware of the history of this bill. There was a statutory requirement under section 7(4) of the Radio New Zealand Act 1995 to incorporate a review of the Radio New Zealand charter every 5 years. As I said the review was completed in 2006. The legislation appeared in the House in 2009 under this Government but it sat—it sat—and it has not come back. Tonight is a historic occasion because this bill is finally back before the House.Of course Labour supports this bill because it undertakes to fix something that should have been done 6 years ago. The problem we have is that this is not modernising. This bill has actually skipped a review. Actually there is a legislative requirement for there to be a review every 5 years. Well there has not been a review for nearly 10 years. It would be interesting in the Committee stage for the Minister to clarify just exactly what that means.It is now incorporating a review that was done before this Government took office. If that is not incompetence I do not know what is. If it is not blatant disregard for the importance of Radio New Zealand then I do not know what is. The Minister says that it is an iconic institution. Well that Government could have treated it with more respect by passing this legislation 6 years ago instead of leaving it languishing on the Order Paper.Labour believes in public broadcasting. We have invested in it over a long period of time and we will do so again. New Zealanders need to hear their own voices and their own stories and we need media that is independent and free of commercial influence. This is not a big ask. Every OECD country has an independent commercial-free public television broadcaster except New Zealand. We have only Radio New Zealand. Yes it is iconic. Yes it is a public treasure. But this Government does not respect it. This Government treats it with blatant disregard.I want to just refer back to what a former Minister Tony Ryall had to say about Radio New Zealand in 1993. He said: “I believe that we should be putting up for tender the provision of a concert programme network and the provision of a national radio network. At present it costs taxpayers some $20 million to provide those networks but those services could be provided to an equivalent if not better standard by an alternative provider.” His Government still believes this and the extraordinary amount of time that it has taken to get this legislation back before the House is testament to that.This Government tolerates Radio New Zealand because it knows that to get rid of it or to make it commercial as it did with Television New Zealand (TVNZ) would be a step too far. New Zealanders would not stand for it. So this Government tolerates it. It freezes it. It refuses to be interviewed by it. It treats it with disdain. It is shabby treatment of a national treasure.The Government has to pass this bill. This is embarrassing for it and it was embarrassing to hear the Minister get up tonight and talk about modernising Radio New Zealand when there has been a piece of legislation to update the charter sitting on the Order Paper for 6 years. It has to pass this bill but the real agenda of this Government is to erode public media. That is what it has been steadily doing for the last 6 years.The legacy of this Government of the National Government is frozen Radio New Zealand funding frozen for 6 years. This is the seventh year that Radio New Zealand has existed under the same funding regime. And the Minister has the gall to say how fabulous she thinks Radio New Zealand is. Well it needs investment and it needs to be treated with more respect because it is the only public broadcaster that New Zealand has.New Zealand On Air has had its funding frozen for that same 6 years. This Government abolished the TVNZ charter. It commercialised TVNZ and that was just confirmed to my colleague Kris Faafoi in a select committee recently where it acknowledged that TVNZ is now a fully commercial operation. It just happens to be owned by the Government. There is no TVNZ public television charter. It is a fully commercial entity.This Government appointed the Prime Minister’s electorate chair to the board of New Zealand On Air and tried to influence the screening of a documentary on child poverty before the 2011 election. Stephen McElrea—does everybody remember that story? Well he is still on the board of New Zealand On Air and he is still exerting influence.The Government gave a loan of $43 million to MediaWorks to bail it out. It sold TVNZ land to Skycity. There has been the debacle around the appointment of the Māori Television chief executive Paora Maxwell with links to the Māori Party and to the National Government. There has been the frightening purge of journalists quality journalists from Māori Television. There has been an inquiry into Shane Taurima but a refusal to countenance an inquiry into political interference in Māori Television or New Zealand On Air.And now when a show like Campbell Live looks like being axed all the Prime Minister has to say is that its primary role was entertainment and not to hold the Government to account. Well that statement tells us a lot does it not? When the Prime Minister believes that the primary role of New Zealand’s last daily current affairs show is not to hold the Government to account then we have crossed a line and that line is democracy.The bill may pass its second reading tonight and we may pass this bill. Hopefully it will not sit on the Order Paper for long until it comes back to the House. We may pass this bill but under this Government there is no doubt that there is a clear agenda to repress an independent questioning media and Radio New Zealand represents that. It is the last bastion of public media in this country. The passage of time in passing this bill is negligent it is incompetent and the attitude of this Government to accountability in general through independent questioning media is an absolute disgrace.