Wong Pansy: Maori Television Service Bill — In Committee 
Wong Pansy: Maori Television Service Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:608;Page:5106] 
PANSY WONG (NZ National) 
: 
 Schedules 1 and 2 go into great detail about appointments to the electoral college that will appoint the directors of the Maori Television Service and schedule 2 further spells out the duties of these directors. I really would urge the Minister to take a call because so far in the Committee stage of the debate the Minister has totally refused to take a call on some very serious questions raised by members from this side of the Chamber. Schedule 2 spells out very clearly the duties of directors. They have to be competent and I want the Minister to take a call to tell the Committee whether for example Derek Fox and the current board of directors if they are going to operate under this schedule would be removed from office because one of the reasons given in schedule 2 for a director being removed from office is that “the director has brought the Service into disrepute”. I would argue that the fiasco of the existing Maori Television Service and the fact that it appointed a fraudster John Davy and was never able to accept the consequences has brought the Maori Television Service into disrepute. 
The other question I want to ask is whether Derek Fox’s failure to disclose interest would under this bill mean that he needed to resign. While he was the chairman of the existing Maori television establishment board he took part in the interviewing of candidates for the job of chief executive officer and nowhere during the process was any candidate made aware that he might have an interest in the position—and I do not know whether his fellow directors or the Minister knew of his intention either. 
Clause 4D in Part 2 of schedule 2 states quite clearly: “A director who is interested in a transaction or proposed transaction of or other matter relating to the Service—(a) must not vote or take part in any deliberation or decision of the board …”. So I would like the Minister to take a call to explain to us whether under this bill when a board of directors is going through the process of appointing a chief executive officer or senior manager to the Maori Television Service and members of the interview panel have an interest in applying for the job the failure of panel members to disclose their conflict of interest would lead to this provision being put in place. 
If it would the Minister needs to explain why the members of the establishment board are not being held to the same standard. I am totally convinced that the public and Opposition members are equally concerned that before the Maori Television Service legislation has been passed we already have a lot of question marks over the conduct of the establishment board. What is the point of Parliament spending time debating and passing legislation that will supposedly hold the board of directors to a high degree of integrity and professionalism if that is not going to be implemented? 
I do not think it is good enough for the Minister to continue to simply sit there refusing to answer any questions and refusing to give the public the assurance that all these high standards of behaviour spelt out in these schedules will be carried out and the assurance that if any member of the board fails to perform to that standard the public can expect the Minister to take effective action.