Smith Murray: Maori Television Service Bill — In Committee 
Smith Murray: Maori Television Service Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:607;Page:5009] 
MURRAY SMITH (United Future) 
: 
 Mr Carter’s speech took the words out of my mouth. I think it is absolutely extraordinary that the Government would provide a bill that is meant to advance te reo Maori and not have a Maori title for it. It is quite laughable that the Government should omit from the title the very thing it says it is trying to promote. I see that we now have a very rushed amendment from the Government seeking to correct that situation by coming up with a name though I note that name is different from the name the Hon Georgina te Heuheu came up with. That now creates some confusion in terms of which one of those names is the correct Maori translation. I understand there is a translation of Te Ture mo te Ratonga Pouaka Whakaata Maori but we do not have a translation of the Government’s version of the title. So now we are left trying to work out the correct wording in Maori for the Maori Television Service. 
I think that is rather strange. I was trying to look for an explanation of why that had occurred. Going back to the preamble it seems to me that we should compare it with the comments the Minister made prior to the dinner break. He referred to the Privy Council’s decision and the preamble—which stated that the Crown accepted that the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi impose a continuing obligation to take such steps as are reasonable to assist in the preservation of te reo Maori by the use of both radio and television broadcasting—and he said that he saw the provisions of this bill as fulfilling that obligation. I get the impression that basically the Government feels a sort of obligation arising from the 1994 decision of the Privy Council and is therefore putting this bill in as a sort of a cop-out out of a feeling that it is fulfilling its obligations by putting this bill together. Therefore the Government is simply saying it has signed that issue off now and has completed its obligations to preserve te reo Maori through television and radio by putting this bill in. Now that it has done that the Government thinks it can throw that issue out of the way. 
As I mentioned previously I think the Government has simply sidelined the issue and effectively sidelined the whole advancement of te reo through radio and television broadcasting by putting te reo into a separate television station that nobody will watch and that will then have a very limited viewership. I reiterate that there is absolutely no data to suggest how many people will watch this station but given the debate over the broadcasting frequency the service will use it appears that people will have to buy television aerials in order to watch it so that will mean it is very isolated. 
The Minister has it wrong when he interprets the Privy Council’s decision as stating that the Maori Television Service is necessary in order to comply with that decision. That is not what it states. It states that the Government—in fact the Government accepted an obligation to use radio and television— 
The CHAIRPERSON (H V Ross Robertson) 
: The member must speak to the title. 
MURRAY SMITH 
: I am speaking to the title because I am speaking to the amendment that was put in to include a Maori version of the title. 
I think that the word “Service” should come out of the title. I accept that it is “Maori Television” but I do not think that it is a service at all. Instead of using the breadth of radio and television throughout New Zealand to promote the Maori language we will have one station that very few people will be watching and all the money for te reo advancement that is coming through from the Government will be directed into the programming for that station. So we will find a situation where there is no money for national and regional television to promote te reo Maori because it has all gone to this television channel that nobody will watch. That is absolutely farcical. 
The Government is effectively doing a huge disservice to Maori and to te reo Maori by isolating and segregating it instead of encouraging New Zealanders as a whole to learn te reo and encouraging its use within the whole sphere of New Zealand through regional television in particular but through national television as well. There are far far better ways for television and radio to be advancing this cause so I do not think there is a service here at all. In order to have a service there needs to be people to serve. Therefore I do not think that this is the right title for this bill.