Smith Murray: Maori Television Service Bill — Instruction to Committee In Committee Speaker Recalled 
Smith Murray: Maori Television Service Bill — Instruction to Committee In Committee Speaker Recalled 
[Volume:607;Page:4989] 
MURRAY SMITH (United Future) 
: 
 I think the name Maori Television Service Bill is a bit of a misnomer. The title of the bill should be the “Maori Television Black Hole Bill” because it seems to me that what we are setting up here is simply an organisation that will take—[ 
Interruption 
] 
The CHAIRPERSON (Ann Hartley) 
: I am sure the member was going to raise a point of order about the preamble. At the present time we are speaking about pages 2 3 and 4 of the preamble—not the title. 
MURRAY SMITH 
: Thank you for that clarification. I will hold fire on that issue. I note that the preamble talks about the Te Reo Maori Report (Wai 11) which says that the Waitangi Tribunal found that the Treaty of Waitangi was directed to ensuring a place for two peoples in New Zealand. In reading that I noted the word “was”. That word refers back no doubt to the foundations of the treaty and one of the problems with this bill—and with the Government’s policy on Maori—is that there is a lack of thought about where we should be with regard to the treaty 150 years on. 
We are looking back at what the treaty meant 150 years ago but what does it mean today? This Government lacks vision in that respect and that fact is reflected in the “Background in English” section of the preamble. It states that the Treaty of Waitangi “was”—past—directed to ensuring a place for two peoples in New Zealand and then goes on to state that the tribunal found that the Maori language “is”—current—an essential part of Maori culture and must be regarded as a taonga a valued possession. I totally agree that te reo Maori is a taonga. It is a taonga I suggest of the whole of New Zealand not just of Maori. But the situation we need to address is how Maori and non-Maori should be relating together 150 years after the treaty. The fact that there is such a big gap between the word “was”—heading back to how things were 150 years ago—and the “is” of the Maori language today simply demonstrates that this Government has no vision whatsoever of how Maori and non-Maori relationships should be today and how we should be proceeding into the future. 
That dearth of vision conveys itself in the Government going in two opposite directions. In an earlier debate I referred to that as schizophrenic. On the one hand the Government is doing things that seem to suggest that it wants to bring about reconciliation between Maori and non-Maori—a sense of unity within this nation—so that we can move forward together. I commend that view. Certainly the resolution of treaty grievances is an absolutely vital part of that process. As I have already expressed a number of times I hope the Government moves with some speed in getting those issues resolved but so far my pleas have fallen on deaf ears. 
Then we find bills such as this—and also like the one we have recently passed allowing for separate Maori seats on local authorities—where the Government is doing things that seem to be trying to marginalise Maori and make them separate from the rest of this nation. The Maori Television Service Bill is a classic example of that. In order to promote te reo we are going to set up a separate Maori television station specifically for Maori and that Maori will watch while the rest of New Zealand carries on and watches Television One TV2 TV3 and regional television and has very little exposure to te reo Maori. In my view we should be looking to provide te reo not just for Maori but for all New Zealanders. We should be looking at ways to promote the language amongst all New Zealanders and that is by nationwide and regional television—television that the vast bulk of New Zealanders will watch. 
I am not at all convinced that many New Zealanders will watch this channel—Maori or non-Maori. Absolutely no research has been done to suggest what the viewer audience will be despite calls on my part for it. There is no research to suggest that there will be any sort of viewer audience for this channel. We will have $30 million—and in 2 years $40 million—just being thrown into this black hole of television that no one will watch and which will not further te reo within New Zealand.