Curran Clare: Television New Zealand Amendment Bill — Third Reading 
Curran Clare: Television New Zealand Amendment Bill — Third Reading 
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CLARE CURRAN (Labour—Dunedin South) 
: 
 I am pleased to take a call in the third reading debate of the Television New Zealand Amendment Bill. If there are lessons to be learnt from the  
News of the World 
 phone hacking debacle it is that independent public media not captured by vested interests is critical to the health of a nation and to democracy. I think we should talk more about democracy and what it means because it is damn important. The public needs to know that politicians and media are not in bed with each other that media adhere to some damn standards that there are lines that will not be crossed and that if those lines are crossed the judicial system will investigate will act and will not be captured and muzzled by the fear of powerful media. 
The bill before us tonight does not reinforce any of those important aims and values. Instead it is an erosion of them taking away a charter of public responsibility and accountability to public broadcasting standards and values; allowing a stronger alliance between the State broadcaster and pay TV owned by Murdoch; and reinforcing the view that commercial profit-based media is best. All this leads to the conclusion that this Government does not give a stuff about public broadcasting and does not give a stuff about the rights of New Zealanders to be told the truth and to be delivered quality content about ourselves. It is all a “nice-to-have” and it is all about money and vested interests. 
This bill takes New Zealand on a slippery slope towards an environment where vested interests rule our media and possibly rule our politicians. Why did this Government refuse to support TVNZ 7? Why has it made Television New Zealand (TVNZ) a commercial broadcaster? Why freeze Radio New Zealand funding and force it to look for other revenue streams? Why refuse to support encourage or even acknowledge the fact that our broadcasting sector has virtually no regulation that the mammoth Sky Television rules the air that free-to-air broadcasting is under threat and that the prospect of locked-up content delivery through broadband technology may reinforce the digital divide between those who can and those who cannot afford access to material that should be available to all? 
Labour is strongly opposed to this bill. We believe in a well-funded innovative and community-orientated public broadcaster—in other words the very opposite of the goals of this bill and the current Minister of Broadcasting. I must point out that I believe that the Minister actually wanted to retain a public TV broadcaster but he just could not get it up. He was not strong enough. 
This bill axes the TVNZ charter. As Russel Norman would say it thrusts a dagger through its heart eliminating the need for our public broadcaster to act in any way in the public interest. Instead it will be replaced by a statement of functions which has the main goal of ensuring that TVNZ carries out its functions and maintains its commercial performance. We can see what National intends for TVNZ: for it to become a commercial enterprise motivated only by the bottom line. This Government has already moved to centralise TVNZ in Auckland with the sale of Avalon Studios and has signalled the demise of TVNZ 7. Any more cuts will have a huge impact on local production and the people who work in it. It is a criminal waste. Avalon Studios are the best studios in the South Pacific. TVNZ is becoming “TV Auckland”. It is all about supplying pay TV content rather than quality public broadcasting. 
In 2008 TVNZ presented the memorial service for Sir Edmund Hillary held at Windsor Castle. This was an important occasion for New Zealand and an example of the crucial role of a genuine public broadcaster. Under National’s statement of functions I highly doubt that an event of this nature would be regarded as worthwhile considering the pressure that TVNZ will be under to deliver profits. Instead of seeing a national hero honoured we may be forced to endure the latest so-called comedy sitcom from the US. This Government has got its priorities wrong. 
The Minister tells us there will still be plenty of local programming that will receive funding from New Zealand On Air through a contestable pool but that is rubbish. Does the Minister seriously believe that a commercial broadcaster which TVNZ has become will replace a high-rating overseas show in prime time with unknown and unproven content? What would the shareholders think of that? I ask the Minister whether TVNZ is being prepared for sale. 
Local producers and artists need more than basic funding. They need the support of a public broadcaster that can give them access to high-quality production crews that have a wealth of broadcasting knowledge. It was with the support of TVNZ that Marcus Lush’s programme  
North 
 was produced. It was a critically acclaimed and hugely popular programme with high production values. 
The Minister needs to wake up and realise what commercialising TVNZ will do to locally made television. We have seen the impact of National’s commercialisation policy. Funding of TVNZ 6 and TVNZ 7 was cut completely forcing valuable Kiwi shows off air. These channels offer real choice in programming as well as being ad-free. The programmes on those channels would not be touched by a commercial channel of prime-time broadcasting yet they are crucial to making New Zealand a country where diversity and talent are valued. 
The Minister says that viewers were not there to keep it going but in the case of TVNZ 7 his comment ignores the fact that it was a digital channel and not available on free-to-air TV unless households had a digital receiver. Yet it still managed 200000 viewers a week. As  
North and South 
 journalist Mike White aptly put it it is like saying that all seldom-read books in the library which would include a swag of classics should be removed and the library downsized to cut costs. With more funding for effective advertising it could have been a highly successful channel that educated viewers as well as entertained them. 
But why would that Minister care? He is not doing it for the New Zealand public; he is doing it for his mates in the private sector who have been making a killing from the crony politics of this Government. Perhaps the Minister would like to explain to the New Zealand public why he felt it was in their interests to loan a commercial business $43 million of their money while at the same time cutting funding to TVNZ 6 and TVNZ 7. 
We know what National has planned for TVNZ. Freshly commercialised broadcasting the latest TV sitcoms from the US it will be flogged off to the highest bidder as National begins large-scale privatisation of State assets after the election. We are firmly opposed to the sale of any State assets and we should not let the Minister begin this process with this bill. 
A competitive and thriving media and content creation sector is needed to create diversity. The New Zealand broadcasting sector currently lacks a diversity of ideas because we are unique in the world apart from Mexico in that we have lost the public television broadcasting function. Radio New Zealand’s frozen budget puts it under such pressure that it must consider fund-raising via a trust or a commercial sponsorship to pay for some of its programmes. 
To incentivise competition and get the best of it we need to be aware of the extent to which the ownership and control of our media exists outside of New Zealand and whether our access to content is being delivered by those who protect their commercial interests by anti-competitive behaviour. We consider that the current commercial market framework does not deliver diversity because it lacks a publicly funded component. It does have a significant locally funded component: the subsidising of local content by New Zealand On Air. We support New Zealand On Air but it is not enough and it is not as Jonathan Coleman seems to think the replacement for public broadcasting in this country. We challenge the National view that local content and public broadcasting are synonymous. 
It is for those reasons that Labour is committed to developing a new model of public broadcasting. We welcome this week’s announcement of a lobby group the Public Media Foundation mooted by David Beatson which is a much-needed watchdog for the industry but members will have to wait to hear what it is. This bill erodes the last bastions of public broadcasting in this country condemning us to further dumbing down and sensationalising of our news and ultimately resulting in the privatisation of TVNZ. We do not believe in that and we will stand up for the New Zealand public today by opposing this bill.