Radio New Zealand Amendment Bill — Third ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeRadio New Zealand Amendment Bill — Third Reading[Sitting date: 17 March 2016. Volume:712;Page:9915. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Radio New Zealand Amendment BillThird ReadingDebate resumed from 10 March.CLARE CURRAN (Labour—Dunedin South): I last spoke about this bill last Thursday night. Just to recap very briefly we are addressing the passage of a bill that has been sitting on the Order Paper since 2009 following a review of the Radio New Zealand charter that took place in 2005—so this is 11 years after a review took place.There is a statutory requirement for a review of the Radio New Zealand charter to occur every 5 years. In essence we have skipped two reviews. Therefore by the time the legislation before us tonight is actually passed it may be out of date. I want to put that on the record. I think that what that represents is the lack of commitment that the Government has shown towards public broadcasting in this country and its disdain for ensuring that we are keeping up to date and taking seriously Radio New Zealand’s role in how our democracy functions and the importance of public broadcasting for public debate and commercial-free discussion and programming.Radio New Zealand operates in very difficult circumstances. As a result it has been under a funding freeze since 2009. It is doing the best job it can and that job is pretty good. It is making the transition to multimedia broadcasting and it is doing that in difficult circumstances. Unfortunately the chair of Radio New Zealand revealed to a select committee a couple of weeks ago that it would not be making a funding bid in this Budget. That is very disappointing and sad quite frankly but whatever. Radio New Zealand is also undergoing restructuring while it adapts to a multimedia environment and that has created some pain within the organisation.We support this legislation; we support the review that took place. We know that the minute this legislation gets passed Radio New Zealand is no doubt going to go into another cycle of a review so it kind of makes a farce of the whole process.We also note that the Minister of Broadcasting submitted a substantial amendment in the Committee stage and did not speak to that amendment until briefly in the third reading. The essence of that was to make provision for multi-platform provisions and for the generation of new content-related revenue streams overseas assuming that it can find any buyers. It is a bit like the BBC versus BBC World Service where the commercial arm generates revenue but the core services are still subject to public service provisions. However Radio New Zealand does not have any plans at this point that we know of to generate revenue in that way and it is very constricted by its current funding environment.Lastly I would like to put on the record that there is a member’s bill in the ballot called the Radio New Zealand (Catch-up Funding) Amendment Bill which does increase funding for Radio New Zealand by around 20 to 25 percent using inflation and population growth as the way to make those adjustments. This would make a difference and would ensure that this bill actually does have some meaning when it finally is enacted by making Radio New Zealand the efficient meaningful organisation and provider of value to the New Zealand community that it should be and ensuring that it is properly funded. Unfortunately this bill before the House tonight rings hollow because of the situation that Radio New Zealand finds itself in.MELISSA LEE (National): Thank you for the opportunity to take a call on the final reading of the Radio New Zealand Amendment Bill. Before I actually get to the substance of the speech I just want to respond to the comments that were made by Ms Curran. Having been a broadcaster myself—having actually worked for Television New Zealand and having actually run a production company—sometimes having more money does not necessarily mean better quality. I am a proponent of local content and I think that has been put on the record. I support the work that the great many people in this country actually do to create local content and I celebrate that but more money does not necessarily mean better quality.This side of the House has been committed to ensuring that the New Zealand Public Service delivers more for the country and this includes the continuing support of our public radio broadcast service a service that is reliable and consistent for today’s listeners. The bill we are debating today will make a stronger statement about our plan to support good independent broadcasting. The bill of course has the Radio New Zealand charter as one of its core components. The charter states that the purpose of Radio New Zealand is to be a public broadcaster that works for all New Zealanders. It also provides a number of provisions that indicate how the broadcaster is able to deliver this admirable goal.We are now entering a new age of public broadcasting where many New Zealanders are now going online to listen to podcasts of Radio New Zealand shows from home to work and at leisure. Often I think a lot of people rely on the app that they have on their mobile phones to listen to Radio New Zealand as well and I commend the work of Radio New Zealand for creating a great app for the convenience of its listeners.More New Zealanders from different walks of life are also tuning in to listen. They are no longer listening to the programmes on the end of the old radio transmitter. They are also doing it time shifted as well—not only are they listening but they are also watching pictures on radio. I have seen many radio shows where they include pictures. In the old days when we were talking about radio it was radio with sound but without pictures and when we talked about television it was just pictures with sound right? But now there is a convergence in the medium and radio often also has pictures as well. It is modern technology that is actually providing that.It is also important to remember that most New Zealanders are no longer waiting for announcements—as I said we are time shifting. Busy lifestyles mean that we are never actually in one place tuning in at the right time waiting for that broadcast. Throughout the last week Radio New Zealand had a number of programmes that let us discover new and exciting stories about our country and the world we live in. I look forward to seeing what new ideas its production team has coming up in the near future.Members should also remember the role of Radio New Zealand as a lifeline during times of natural disaster. Radio New Zealand was a key service many Cantabrians looked to during the aftermath of the 2010 and 2011 earthquakes. The role of Radio New Zealand as a support entity with obligations to the Ministry of Civil Defence and wider emergency services must also be noted by the House as a key component of the community support role that it provides.Radio New Zealand as a broadcaster has over 500000 listeners a week comprising nearly 20 percent of the market share of audience. These numbers show how highly regarded the broadcaster is in New Zealand and I celebrate that.I should also note to the House that the Commerce Committee which I chair recently reviewed Radio New Zealand during our annual review process and it was great to hear about its current operations and how it seeks to tackle future changes in technology and also the listening habits of the audiences. It was also interesting to note how it is looking into the ethnic diversity of New Zealand’s population. It was looking into more representation in terms of programming representing the ethnic diversity as well as the content for the younger generation in the digital age.Indeed the Commerce Committee has had a long history with the bill as members opposite have actually mentioned. It began the hearings in 2009 and it is appropriate that now 6 years later this House can send a strong message to the nation about our belief in what the Radio New Zealand services should be achieving for the people of our country.As members of Parliament we have a duty to New Zealand to maintain Radio New Zealand as a key broadcaster for this country. We also have the duty to help the Government fulfil its responsibilities towards Radio New Zealand. These responsibilities can be fulfilled only through our recognition of the digital era we are in and the impact that it will have on the traditional mediums that for a long time Radio New Zealand has operated under. This bill actually works for changes and looks ahead to the future vision of our nation so that Radio New Zealand can continue to be a good public broadcast service. In summary Radio New Zealand is well trusted and will remain so in our country and I commend the bill to the House.KRIS FAAFOI (Labour—Mana): It is a genuine pleasure to speak to the Radio New Zealand Amendment Bill and I want to acknowledge Melissa Lee the speaker who has just made a contribution who is the chair of the Commerce Committee and who as she pointed out herself was a broadcaster and—importantly I think—a broadcaster who was making her own programmes in that creative space. So she does know what she is talking about when we are talking about the broadcasting industry at large.I also want to acknowledge the people who work for Radio New Zealand. I think that—and it has been mentioned on this side of the House—given the financial constraints that it is under and the digital change that the whole industry is undergoing it has responded to those digital changes and the financial challenges in a very effective way. But I think it could have been better and that speaks to our disappointment about the passage of this bill. I think that if you look at the details of the bill itself and the functions of this bill you have to say it is a good bill because it puts in legislation the charter for Radio New Zealand and it enshrines some very important things in my view as a former broadcaster who spent most of his time in public broadcasting. Radio New Zealand by law has to deliver services of the highest quality to inform entertain and enlighten the people of New Zealand to challenge innovate and engage its listeners and to foster crucial thought and informed and wide-ranging debate. As a citizen and as a former broadcaster I think that those functions are very good functions and are ones that hopefully we all support.Unfortunately the last words in this piece of legislation tell the sorry story of the journey of this bill. Melissa Lee pointed out in her contribution that this piece of legislation was introduced on 2 June 2009 and we are here—and there is a degree of hypocrisy here on my part because we are speaking to it and it has taken so long and there have been so many delays but I think it is important that we point this out. I do not want to overly prolong this debate—I want this piece of legislation to pass—but I think it is important that we do point out that in 2009 this piece of legislation came out the select committee reported back in December of that year and it has taken us 6 years as Melissa Lee pointed out herself for this piece of legislation to pass. I think that speaks to the priority that this Government has put on public broadcasting and I think the 6-year wait shows that it is a low priority. It is dangerous not only for some of the functions that I spoke about that are enshrined for Radio New Zealand but also because of the quickly changing nature of the media. If we want Radio New Zealand which I think is our shining light of public broadcasting to be just as good as the ever-changing market with New Zealand Media and Entertainment with Fairfax with our other public broadcaster Television New Zealand and with other media outlets in New Zealand we have to support our radio public broadcaster to make sure it can change with the times and ensure that the high-quality standards that we expect and that it delivers can be delivered as well.Melissa Lee spoke about the convergence—that radio is no longer radio alone. On air at the moment I believe is Checkpoint and it is not just radio alone now. John Campbell since leaving MediaWorks now does his show online—you can watch him do his show. That is why I want to congratulate Radio New Zealand on branching out into that area. But I think the financial constraints that this Government has put on Radio New Zealand are restricting Radio New Zealand’s ability to do more. If we want our public broadcaster to do more—to challenge to inform to have those debates that the charter talks about and to keep that quality—it also needs to be at the forefront of technological changes. I think that the lack of commitment over those 6 years has seriously hamstrung Radio New Zealand. I think you just need to look to Television New Zealand and what the current Government has done there as well. Removing TVNZ 6 and TVNZ 7 again shows a lack of commitment to public broadcasting. I do not know why because I think it is an important thing for our nation to have scrutiny—unbiased scrutiny with integrity—and I think that comes from having a public broadcaster.So when we look at this piece of legislation the functions are great; the journey is awful. Six years is too long to wait for this piece of legislation to pass through this House. A funding freezesince 2009 to keep it to just under $32 million for Radio New Zealand is not good enough for what I would hope we are which is a good functioning democracy.The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Trevor Mallard): This debate is interrupted and set down for resumption next sitting day. It now gives me pleasure to be part of a historic process and the House stands adjourned until 2 p.m. on Tuesday 29 March 2016.Debate interrupted.[To mark the retirement of the Serjeant-at-Arms Brent Smith members stood and applauded.]