Perry Edwin: Maori Television Service (Te Aratuku Whakaata Irirangi Maori) Bill — Third Reading 
Perry Edwin: Maori Television Service (Te Aratuku Whakaata Irirangi Maori) Bill — Third Reading 
[Volume:608;Page:5284] 
EDWIN PERRY (NZ First) 
: 
 New Zealand First will be opposing this bill I am sorry to say. We have some real concerns about it. The area I want to cover is clause 76 in Part 3. That provision deals with the transfer of assets and liabilities to the already troubled Maori Television Service television station. 
But first the bill has been introduced to establish a service to promote and teach te reo. With regard to te reo training I have to concede that I support that part of the bill. As members heard in the previous reading of the bill my mother-in-law would be very disappointed if she were to hear that I am against that part of the programme. But the important thing is that the programmes are of high quality. Another function is to be cost-effective. Well we have heard this afternoon how negative the effect of being cost-effective is. So we have some real queries about that. The service also is to provide translation into English and Maori. I ask members why that was not done through Television One TV2 or TV3. 
Hon Tariana Turia 
: They can translate from Maori to English. 
EDWIN PERRY 
: It is not a problem and the savings would be astronomical. Sadly $50 million will not get us there. 
Hon Tariana Turia 
: Better than $11 million. 
EDWIN PERRY 
: Right let us move on. Let us get back to the assets side of it. I ask the Minister what the assets are. Are there any assets? Are the service and the transmitters assets? Will the intellectual property right on the programmes and the registration of the programmes be assets? 
Hon Parekura Horomia 
: Yes. 
EDWIN PERRY 
: Thank you. Are the vehicles currently owned by the organisation assets? 
Hon Tariana Turia 
: Yes. 
EDWIN PERRY 
: They are all nodding away there but the trump card is coming up. What about furniture and high-tech equipment? The question I want to ask now is whether they are leased or on hire purchase. If they are leased or on hire purchase and if this organisation goes bottom up those assets will not be owned by the service. The hire purchase companies and the lease companies will have preferential ownership of those assets. Those are some of the concerns I want to put to the Minister. 
Hon Parekura Horomia 
: It’s like our land. We thought we owned it but other people took it. 
EDWIN PERRY 
: Oh well the member is addressing that; we will address it too when we get there. 
Why should we be so concerned? The Minister of Broadcasting Mr Steve Maharey in the  
Sunday Star-Times 
 on 20 April 2003 referred to an award-winning Maori production company based out of Ruatoria. Through my own research I have found out that it is a quality company. It is an asset. One of its series was the  
Moko Toa 
 series which we all know about. It is a qualified production company. But the plug has been pulled because funding is not available through the Maori Television Service. Given that that company was making programmes like that I say that the production companies that are to be brought on board now will produce inferior programmes. 
Let me touch on some liabilities. What are they? Again we do not know. I have just spoken about assets. I ask the Minister where we sit currently with the Viaduct Basin building. 
Hon Parekura Horomia 
: What building is that? 
EDWIN PERRY 
: The one at the Viaduct Basin that is costing something like half-a-million dollars a year. Where does the lease sit with the service? Are there any ongoing costs? I might be helping the Minister to find out what is actually happening to that building. Are there some liabilities? I believe that there are some liabilities with that particular building and they are hidden liabilities. Are there any hidden liabilities that may announce themselves through some of the production companies? In my own research I found that there may be and there will be some liabilities coming back on the organisation that could be a hidden cost. 
The Minister knows and I know that there are other serious issues that face the Maori people and here we are spending $50 million on something that may be a miss-and-hit station. Can I just touch on the areas of need. One is Maori secondary schools. They may look nice from the outside but on the inside they need revamping. They need new carpet and new state-of-the-art teaching aids. Just last night here in Parliament we heard a young group of Maori screaming out for funding for their programme. At this point I must say that Te Mangai Paho did help them with some funding. But the $50 million that the Minister is to spend on this television station could be spent on a lot of other areas where it would be productive and positive in respect of our people. 
I also want to touch on the funding. The Budget is coming around. I say to the Minister that if the Maori population is 12 percent of the total population then why is he not getting 12 percent of the Budget for this television station. With regard to te reo teaching we know that there are enough organisations in the country. Kanohi to kanohi eye to eye is the best tool. Our old people never had television with which to teach people te reo. They did it on the marae kanohi to kanohi. I say to the Minister in relation to all these private organisations that our marae are the most sacred place where te reo should be taught by our old kaumatua within our own iwi who know the kawa and the tikanga of that particular area or hapu or rohe. 
There are some problems with the coverage. We have heard before in this House that a lot of areas throughout Aotearoa will not receive coverage. 
Hon Tariana Turia 
: 92 percent can. 
EDWIN PERRY 
: We will see; we have heard a lot of other good things about it. If that is the case it will be good. 
Hon Parekura Horomia 
: It will be good news. 
EDWIN PERRY 
: I do not think it will be good news; that is the only thing I am concerned about. 
Let me talk about the board which has been touched on many times before in this House. Let us hope that the board does not make the same mistakes as it did with Mr Davy. We need people who have the skills to smell out somebody who comes along to try to fit us up—and I am talking about us about Maori as well. We need to be aware that there are qualified people on that board. 
 Can I talk about the chairman? I also applaud as my fellow MP Georgina te Heuheu did—and I am sure our Maori members across the House do too—Wayne Walden’s appointment. He is a man who has been successful in business. 
Hon Tariana Turia 
: We did appoint him. 
EDWIN PERRY 
: Yes I know. The Government had to find somebody to clean up the Maori Television Service. He will clean it up—I hope he does. He will sniff out the ones who are not performing. 
The only other concern I have is in respect of the appointment of our whanaunga Derek Fox. Why was he not appointed at the beginning? That is all I say. 
Darren Hughes 
: It was not good enough! 
EDWIN PERRY 
: No it was not good enough. He should have been there at the beginning. He is the right man to run this service. He is the right man to look at the programmes. But the board got sucked in by a guy who came across from Canada with all the credit cards and all the CVs and what did he do? He fitted us up. All I will say is that again this is a hit-or-miss thing. The Minister knows and I know that if the money were spent in other areas it would be more beneficial to our people.