Curran Clare: Māori Television Service (Te Aratuku Whakaata Irirangi Māori) Amendment Bill — Second Reading Instruction to Committee In Committee Third ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeCurran Clare: Māori Television Service (Te Aratuku Whakaata Irirangi Māori) Amendment Bill — Second Reading Instruction to Committee In Committee Third Reading[Sitting date: 19 November 2013. Volume:695;Page:14936. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]CLARE CURRAN (Labour—Dunedin South): There has been much made in the discussion on the Māori Television Service (Te Aratuku Whakaata Irirangi Māori) Amendment Bill about the contribution of Māori Television to the broadcasting environment in New Zealand and its role over the last 10 years and its position as a taonga in our broadcasting environment. I would welcome during the course of this debate the Minister getting up and telling us what he believes has been that contribution what his vision is for Māori Television going forward and where he sees this bill fitting in as part of that vision going forward in particular in relation to the use of the spectrum which is really fundamentally why we are passing this bill under urgency—to get that spectrum.Because that spectrum has to be converted the law has to change by the beginning of December in order for that spectrum to be converted. That is why we are rushing through these last parts of this bill right now in order for that to happen. There has to be the context and the context is that the Māori Television Service—like Radio New Zealand like New Zealand On Air like every publicly funded entity that receives funding for broadcasting—has had its funding frozen for years now.Four years—I think probably we are heading into the fifth year of no extra funding and yet we are passing a bill today that transfers the analog spectrum to the digital environment which is a necessary factor. We are heading into the 10th anniversary for Māori Television and there is no talk at all about what the development of Māori Television is going to be and whether that includes a vision for high definition. In that case there will be a need for more spectrum because—Mr Chair for your edification—in order for the high-definition channel to be developed it requires a lot more spectrum than is the current amount of spectrum used for analog television.This issue is actually at the heart of the bill. How that spectrum will be managed who will manage it what decisions will be made about it and in whose interests they will be made are really the big questions that lie behind this bill. I think that the Minister of Māori Affairs during the course of the second reading will have received and hopefully taken note of those specific questions and will get on to his feet and provide us with some explanation and discussion around that.I would like to refer back to the briefing to the incoming Ministers—the Minister of Māori Affairs and the Minister of Finance. They are the Minister in the chair Pita Sharples and also the shareholding Minister Bill English. They have been referred to on a number of occasions as ducking for cover on the appointment of the new chief executive at Māori Television. They had a briefing from Māori Television in 2011. Thatbriefing referred specifically to the management rights and spectrum allocation and the impending change to digital television.That briefing raised questions—in a very polite manner but it still raised questions—about how that spectrum was going to be managed and who was going to manage it. It harked back to what happened in 2010 I think it was if I am correct—and correct me if I am wrong—when there was a lessening of the amount of analog spectrum for Māori Television which happened really under the noses of everybody and without much public comment. But there was a reduction in the amount of spectrum where Māori Television had no say. It was a reduction from 32 megahertz down to 16 megahertz. There have subsequently been concerns raised about whether in the future that may happen again and if it did happen again what role and what rights Māori Television would have to ensure that that did not happen and that it had some say in it.The other absolutely critical issue is around the funding for Māori Television and how it can manage its future in this environment in which funding has been frozen. We all know that the effect of funding freezes over a number of years actually equates to funding cuts because the service cannot continue to operate at the same level. I think we must put on the record that Māori Television and Radio New Zealand in that environment of frozen funding have both done exceedingly well in providing the service that they do to the New Zealand public in our straitened public broadcasting environment.But if we are to look at going into the modern digital environment where there are multiple platforms where there is the possibility of higher-definition television—as we should be considering and as we should be having the debate around—what ability will Māori Television have to do that? What rights will it have over the ability to do that through its spectrum? How will it do that if there is no ability for its cost structures and sources of income to be increased or reviewed and for it to actually take control of its own future?Given that this is the 10th anniversary of Māori Television in New Zealand I would like to get some indication from the Minister in the chair as to what his belief is what his vision is and what his ideas are around how Māori Television can take us into its second decade and perform that important role as a taonga in New Zealand.I would also like to reiterate my concerns around the management of the spectrum under the Te Pūtahi Pāoho structure and the governance structure in the context that as the Minister himself said in his second reading speech it is in a state of flux. There are question marks around the composition of the groups that make it up and its ability to perform those governance functions effectively to the standard that we need to have at the electoral college—that relationship between the Crown and the electoral college. So I would like to hear more from the Minister on that. I think there is a question mark and that question mark is in the commentary on the bill. It seems very ironic that we are passing a piece of legislation which we have to pass by the beginning of December in order to transfer that spectrum over where there is a huge question mark in the bill over the governance process of the management of that spectrum.I think as I said in my second reading speech that the Government really should have had its house in order in terms of that issue. It came up in the Māori Affairs Committee only under questioning from members of the committee on both sides. But it really did emerge only in the select committee because it certainly was not in the officials’ advice to the select committee. It really did emerge only during the discussions. Why was it that it came up only then? What are the Government and Minister doing about it to ensure that we can be reassured that Māori Television can progress can move into the modern era with the spectrum that is being transferred over can move into an era of high definition will have the amount of spectrum it needs to dothat will have some control over the way its spectrum is managed and more important will have its funding reviewed and hopefully increased?