Mathers Mojo: Oral Questions — Questions to MinistersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeMathers Mojo: Oral Questions — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 24 September 2015. Volume:709;Page:7069. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]10.MOJO MATHERS (Green) to the Minister of Broadcasting: Does she think it’s acceptable that hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders who live with hearing loss are unable to access the TV commentary for any Rugby World Cup games because we do not have mandatory captioning requirements in this country?Hon NIKKI KAYE (Acting Minister of Broadcasting): I think we are doing a good job in terms of improving captioning in this country but we can do better. I am advised that there are technical limitations that prevent captioning of the Rugby World Cup games. In terms of mandatory captioning requirements in the past decade we have seen a tripling of New Zealand’s level of captioning for free-to-air television. As such we do not have plans to introduce mandatory requirements at this time.Mojo Mathers: Does the Minister accept that the fact that something of such significance as the Rugby World Cup is not being captioned shows that the current model of relying on public funding rather than making captioning mandatory is not working?Hon NIKKI KAYE: I repeat what I said before which was that we thinkthat overall we are moving in the right direction. We have seen a tripling of captioning content in the last 10 years. We have increased the budget from $2.4 million to $2.8 million. We know that we can improve. We are going to work with Sky TV and Prime Television to ensure they have the technical capability in the future but we do not think that mandatory captioning is the way to go.Mojo Mathers: Does the Minister realise that the All Blacks game against Argentina was screened live with captions in Australia England Wales Scotland Ireland France and other nations with mandatory captioning but not in New Zealand and does she consider that acceptable?Hon NIKKI KAYE: As I said before we are aware that other countries do have mandatory requirements here. But the point that I would make to you is that the organisation that won the rights to broadcast does not have the technical capability. We are aware of that and we are working with Sky TV and Prime Television. We have increased the investment in this area but they are not technically capable at the moment.Mojo Mathers: Does the Minister think that it is a sign of a fair and decent society that thousands of New Zealanders are unable to fully experience the excitement of following our national team play our national game because we do not have mandatory TV captioning?Hon NIKKI KAYE: We believe that in a fair and decent society it is important to improve captioning. That is why we have gone from $2.4 million to $2.8 million of funding. We have also ensured that I think under our watch there are 265 hours per week of captioning for free-to-air television available 31 hours per week of audio-described free-to-air television is now available 100 percent of prime-time content on Television One and TV2 is captioned and we will be working with Sky TV and Prime Television to try to ensure that this capability exists in the future.Mojo Mathers: In light of the fact that the Minister told the House on 12 August that “watching the All Blacks is something that I think New Zealanders really do regard as being a critical part of being a New Zealander.” will she commit to making TV captioning mandatory in time for the next Rugby World Cup in 2019?Hon NIKKI KAYE: Obviously I am answering on behalf of the Minister of Broadcasting but as I have said before and with regard to the comments that you made all of us believe that rugby is a great part of our society and we want people to have accessible content but it is about how you get there. We actually think that making it mandatory would provide unnecessary cost to certain broadcasters. We think we can get there with voluntary captioning and we are working with a range of organisations to improve captioning. I think we are moving in the right direction. As I have said before we have gone from $2.4 million to $2.8 million and more hours than ever before and we will work with them around that technical capability.