Fenton Darien: Arts Council of New Zealand Toi Aotearoa Bill — Third ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeFenton Darien: Arts Council of New Zealand Toi Aotearoa Bill — Third Reading[Sitting date: 29 January 2014. Volume:696;Page:15685. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]DARIEN FENTON (Labour):Tēnā koe Mr Assistant Speaker. I rise with disappointment to oppose this Arts Council of New Zealand Toi Aotearoa Bill on behalf of the Labour Party. My colleagues have spelt out that we have concerns around this bill regarding representation forMāori and Pacific ethnic groups youth people with disabilities and of course local communities.When you work your way through the bill—Part 1 talks about the purpose of the bill—you cannot really disagree with any of it. It all makes quite a lot of sense really. It talks about continuing the Arts Council of New Zealand Toi Aotearoa. It talks about recognising the cultural diversity of the people of New Zealand. It talks about recognising in the arts the role ofMāori as tangata whenua and recognising the arts of the Pacific Islands peoples of New Zealand. It talks about upholding the principles of “(i) participation … in the arts; and (ii) access by supporting the availability of projects of merit to communities … and (iii) excellence and innovation by supporting activities of artistic and cultural significance that develop the creative potential of artists and art forms; and (iv) professionalism … and (v) advocacy …”.No one can disagree with the purpose of the bill. In fact Labour certainly does not disagree with the overall purpose as described by the bill. In fact there is much in the bill that is hard to disagree with. The fundamental issue for Labour is that tonight we are in a rationalisation process that is completely unnecessary. It will see the end of an entity called Te Waka Toi which has provided support toMāori organisations through Creative New Zealand and of a Pacific Islands representation arts board. What is worse is that no one else can ever own or use that name—Te Waka Toi—to describe an arts activity in New Zealand.I think that all of us value and understand the importance of art in this country whether we have artistic backgrounds in any of the performing arts or creative arts or whether we do not. It is the lifeblood the soul of our country. It is about how we describe ourselves. It is about our unique identity. New Zealand arts and performing arts are different from those in any other country. There is no other country in the world that produces the kind of artistic talent that we have here. The arts are about reflecting ourselves and our cultural diversity and I do not believe that anyone here would disagree with the importance of the arts in this country.What does puzzle me however is why we are doing this bill. I have spelt out a little bit our objections and our concern about representation and also about why this bill was introduced in 2010 in the last Government before the last election—2010. It is a rationalisation—very important. I would also remind the House that before Christmas—I think it was on the very eve of the House rising before Christmas—we were debating the Committee stage of this bill almost 4 years after it was introduced. I do not understand why if the Arts Council and Creative New Zealand have survived thus far as they are without this rationalisation and without the removal of the right forMāori Pasifika people and ethnic communities to be involved we have to do this 4 years later.Tracey Martin: $200000—that’s nothing.DARIEN FENTON: That is right—$200000 is nothing. Absolutely. This Government just throws money at all sorts of other things yet wastes the House’s time on this pitiful little bill which has caused so much concern to artists and arts communities. I know that the Government Administration Committee heard from those communities. I was not on the select committee but I know that the parties that opposed this bill have heard from those communities. Those who were involved in the consultation process expressed their concern to us in no uncertain terms but also told us that they were quite nervous and they even felt afraid of expressing that view in front of the select committee in case the organisation might be adversely affected. Is that not asad state of affairs? Do we not hear that so often when it comes to anything that is funded in the community by this Government?I am sure that my colleagues have heard exactly the same story from community organisations that rely on the beneficial hand—the handouts I should say—of Paula Bennett. I wanted to call her “Paula Benefit” but anyway I did not. I did not. I resisted the urge. Oh!The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson): The lights have gone out. The power has gone.DARIEN FENTON: The power is off.The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson): The member may continue mind you but there is no—DARIEN FENTON: I think I will not Mr Assistant Speaker because it is kind of creepy. It is kind of creepy. You cannot see the bill.The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson): Honourable members I think that given the circumstances I should suspend the House until such time as the lighting resumes.DARIEN FENTON: And the lights are back.The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson): Ask and it shall be given.DARIEN FENTON: It is really quite a strange atmosphere. Is this emergency power we have got now?The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson): Yes it is.DARIEN FENTON: Is it? OK. You see I was being so forceful and impressive that I put the lights out. It was the mention of the Minister for Arts Culture and Heritage. That is what it was. Yes it must have been the Minister you know. That is why. He is being a scrooge. He must have been turning the lights down I think.However I heard the member for North Shore Maggie Barry yelling across the Chamber earlier in the debate about how Labour had its chance and did nothing. Well I just want to let that member know that she needs to go and visit some of the community arts organisations in the North Shore community including the DepotArtspace that have written to her and written to others to talk about their deep deep concern about the parlous state of community arts groups throughout New Zealand and their concern about funding that is being cut by the Minister for arts courses at Unitec and in poor communities likeRāwene whose people depend on these types of courses. They have written about how important the involvement of community arts is.What we have here is a Government that does not really believe that arts have any value unless you can put a money value on it. That is what we hear from Minister Joyce all the time. That is why we are seeing cuts to creative courses at Unitec and others. I met a young woman tonight who has just finished a degree in performing arts in acting. I was asking her what she will be doing. She knows that her life is going to be a struggle because the value placed on her education is completely ignored by this Government. Anything to do with the arts and anything to do with music unless it is the ballet or the opera is ignored and seen by this Government as worthless.Tracey Martin: They pat themselves on the back forLorde though.DARIEN FENTON: Oh yes of course the Government had to say something aboutLorde although I cannot say that Christopher Finlayson had anything to do with her success—or for that matter the member for North Shore Maggie Barry.Lorde goes to school in her electorate.That is the unfortunate thing about this bill. The Government does not value the arts. It sees them as a cost; it does not see the benefit to the communities. The Government is passing a silly bill that did not need to be passed. What the Government needed to be doing was investing more in the arts. It needed to be making sure that there is aMāori aPacific and an ethnic voice in community arts. It needs to be encouraging and supporting community groups up and down New Zealand that do wonderful things. We need to be celebrating the artists and the performing artists in this country. We need to be giving them the message that we value them. Labour values them and that is why we cannot support this bill.