Alexander Marc: Radio New Zealand Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
Alexander Marc: Radio New Zealand Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
[Volume:614;Page:10324] 
MARC ALEXANDER (United Future) 
: 
 I rise to support the second reading of the Radio New Zealand Amendment Bill. It is a short bill and correspondingly I will keep my comments brief. 
The bill covers three aspects of Radio New Zealand’s operations and is the result of the Commerce Committee review of the Radio New Zealand charter—the same committee that has just considered its recommendations in the form of this bill. Those three main aspects on which I will comment briefly are: amendments to the charter to encourage Radio New Zealand to contribute towards New Zealand’s spiritual and ethical development; amendments that require Radio New Zealand to feature programmes that provide for varied interests including now a full range of age groups; and finally the last amendment of substance requires Radio New Zealand to survey annually not just its existing audience but also attitudes amongst those who do not presently listen to Radio New Zealand. 
A lot of members have commented on how woolly some of these charter prescriptions are. They are really an acknowledgment of aspects of our lives other than just the material. We have heard that broadcasting should be for the public. Well the public do have spiritual views and they have ethical views and these ought to be represented in a charter. They are not particularly prescriptive. It is not a device to try to push a particular view—religious or otherwise—but to embrace a diversity that we all share. 
Earlier in the year the United Future caucus received a submission from the Churches Broadcasting Commission seeking our support for the provision that requires Radio New Zealand to provide programmes that contribute towards the spiritual and ethical development of our society. We are happy to do that. As I say it is a fairly woolly sort of description but it caters for the fact that we have other than materialistic interests in life. However the commission went on to say how disappointed it was that such provisions could not have been replicated in the recently enacted TVNZ charter. I point out to those members of the Churches Broadcasting Commission and other similar groups that such provisions were eventually incorporated into TVNZ’s new charter. The amendment to the Radio New Zealand charter therefore largely brings some consistency in terms of programming requirements for these two publicly owned broadcasting media. 
Clause 3(2) requires Radio New Zealand to provide programming that caters to a full range of age groups. It is particularly pleasing that this provision is included as it will ensure that Radio New Zealand provides programming that is specific to children listeners and not just to the elderly. There are some problems in its enactment as far as I see in that we have to be much more responsive to public need. We are—as has been mentioned—well catered for in a lot of the other age groups as well. In trying to appeal to those age groups the charter covers one of the things that public broadcasting is supposed to do which is to appeal to all New Zealanders. 
One of the ongoing issues on which we have sought resolution is the issue of accountability by Radio New Zealand to its public. We believe that we are entitled to greater information not just about the quality and type of programming but also about the greatest indicator of how well Radio New Zealand is or is not doing its job—in other words audience share. This bill requires Radio New Zealand to survey both its audience and its non-audience so that it might delineate the wishes of the rest of the radio-listening public provide for their interests and attract new listeners accordingly. This amendment is commendable. However we are severely disappointed that the committee has remained too timid to deal with the real issues surrounding Radio New Zealand’s surveys—that is its refusal to participate in the neutral sector surveys that determine actual audience share for all radio stations. It should compete on a level playing field. 
Commissioned in 2002 by Radio New Zealand an ACNielsen survey found that one in five radio listeners listen to either National Radio or Concert FM. It would be very interesting to see whether a comparison with the monthly commercial radio surveys showed a consistent listenership of Radio New Zealand but we do not know this because Radio New Zealand has decided not to take part in the industry’s standard surveys. I have to question why not. I know that this issue is essentially an operational one and I am aware there were some practical reasons for Radio New Zealand choosing not to take part in the comparative survey but if a select committee can go as far as to specify that Radio New Zealand must undertake annual surveys of its audience—of a quantitative and qualitative nature—then it would have been easier to specify that Radio New Zealand takes part in regular industry-wide radio audience surveys. It is disappointing that the committee has not addressed this. I think Radio New Zealand will continue to kid itself about its true level of public support until it faces reality and subjects itself to the scrutiny of the regular industry-wide surveys. 
United Future will be lobbying the Government to require Radio New Zealand to do this. That is part of the accountability process. In the meantime I commend the bill to the House.