Speech: TVNZ Amendment bill - Te Ururoa Flavell

Television New Zealand Amendment Bill

Third Reading; 12 June 2011

Te Ururoa Flavell, Maori Party MP for Waiariki

Tēnā koe, Mr Deputy Speaker. Kia ora anō tātau e te Whare. He wā poto noa iho tēnei kua tukuna mai ai ki a au, ki te whakatakoto i ngā whakaaro o te Pāti Māori. Me pēnei rawa te kōrero mai i te tīmatanga o tēnei o ngā pire i roto i te Whare kua kaha whakahē mātau i tōna pūtake. Arā anō ngā mea kua whakatakotohia e aku hoa. Ka mutu, ahakoa i puta mai i te waha o te Minita ko tāna whakautu ki tā te Pāti Māori i whakatakoto mai ai, kei reira tonu te āwangawanga.

Ko tāna, arā anō ngā huarahi kei mua i te aroaro kia tiaki pai, ko te taha ki te Ao Māori engari nei au e noho nei i roto i te rangirua me te kore whakapono i te mea, ko te pai o tēnei mea o te charter, te tāhūhū kōrero, ka herea katoatia ngā tikanga, ngā ture hei whāinga mā tēnei o ngā kamupene. Ko te mea pai, ka eke ki te wā kia whakamātauria, āe rānei, he tika rānei tērā tāhūhū kōrero, kāore rānei, ka taea e te tangata te whakamātautau i ngā taumata katoa ki tā te tāhūhū kōrero i kī ai. Mēnā kāre i eke ki te taumata ō roto i tērā tāhūhū kōrero, ka riro mā tētahi a ia e whakamātautau. Mēnā ka eke, ka eke panuku, ka eke tangaroa, ā, me pakipaki ngā ringa ka tika. Nō reira, koinei te pai o tēnei mea o te charter, o te tāhūhū kōrero, ka taea e wai rānei te whakamātautau i te pai rānei, i te koretake rānei, o ngā mahi o te kamupene.

I te mea kua whakakorengia tērā wāhanga, kei reira tonu te āwangawanga ka kore ngā take Māori, te mātauranga Māori, ngā rawa Māori e noho mai nei, i waenganui i a pouaka whakaata o Aotearoa, Te Reo Tātaki me kī, e kitea mai ai e te marea. Ka kore e tiakina paitia ngā mātauranga kei a ia i tēnei wā tonu nei, ka mutu, ka kore pea Te Reo Tātaki e whai nei i te hiahia o te Ao Māori, o te motu, ka tahi, ka rua, kia kitea mai ai e te kanohi Māori, ngā kōrero Māori e pāohotia atu ana hei kanohi mō te motu, kaua ki Aotearoa nei i tōna kotahi engari ki te ao. Nō reira, kei reira tonu tērā āwangawanga, hāunga ngā kōrero o te Rōpū Kākāriki me Reipa, kei reira tonu tērā āwangawanga ō mātau mō tēnei o ngā take, kia whai wāhi te mātauranga Māori, ngā kōrero Māori, ngā hītori Māori, te reo Māori tonu i runga i te pouaka whakaata. I ngā tau kua hipa i whakamātautauria te pouaka whakaata, Te Reo Tātaki, me kī mō ēnei take, arā, mō Te Karere, mō Marae i tēnei wā, ko Marae Investigates, he wāhi pakupaku noa iho o ngā hāora e pāohotia atu ana e te pouaka whakaata. Ko tā mātau, ko te kī atu he aha te uauatanga o te whakanui ake i tērā āhuatanga ki te motu. I te mea, pēnei i te Wiki o Te Reo Māori kua hipa ake nei, arā anō ngā painga o te kite atu i te kanohi Māori, te reo Māori, te hītori Māori ki runga me kī, i te pouaka whakaata matua o te motu.

Nō reira me pērā rawa tētahi kupu kōrero ka whakairia ki te pakitara o te Whare nei i tēnei pō, me te kī atu, e kore mātau te Pāti Māori e whakaae ki tēnei o ngā pire. Ahakoa te paku aro mai o te Minita ki ngā auē, i tōna mutunga mai, kāre mātau i te whakapono ka eke tēnei pire ki te taumata e wawatatia ana. Ka mutu he nui tonu ngā mahi kai mua i te aroaro hei whakapakari ake i te āhuatanga o ngā kōrero Māori, mātauranga Māori i tōna whānuitanga. Kāre e tino kitea i roto i te pūtake o tēnei pire. Nō reira koinei tā te Pāti Māori he whakahē i tēnei o ngā pire.

Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. Greetings once again to those of us in the House. I have been given only a short amount of time to present the thoughts of the Māori Party on this matter. Let me put it this way: since the inception of the Television New Zealand Amendment Bill in the House, we have strongly opposed it. My colleagues have advanced several issues, and although the Minister responded to the Māori Party’s concerns, those concerns remain.

According to the Minister, there are many ways to ensure that aspects pertaining to Māoridom are protected. However, I remain confused and unconvinced, because the good thing about this instrument called a charter is that it binds together all of the protocols and legal requirements for the company to follow. A positive advantage is that once it is time to review whether the charter is appropriate, then one can test the standards against those in the charter. Should those standards not be met, then someone will have the task of reviewing the entity. If the standards are met successfully, then the entity must be applauded. That is what makes a charter so useful; it allows anyone to see whether the company is performing well or poorly.

But because that part has been abolished, the concern is still there that issues of interest relating to Māoridom, Māori knowledge, and Māori resources within Television New Zealand (TVNZ) will not be seen by the public. The intellectual property it currently has will not be protected, hence TVNZ will not meet the needs of Māori and indeed of the country, whereby Māori faces and stories are broadcast not just in New Zealand but throughout the world. Regardless of what the Green Party and Labour had to say, that concern of ours remains. We are concerned that Māori knowledge, Māori history, and the Māori language should maintain a place on television. A few years ago TVNZ underwent a review of Māori programmes such as Te Karere and Marae, which is now called Marae Investigates. It found that Māori programmes had only a small amount of time on air. We wonder why broadcast time cannot be increased for Māori programming. As is the case with Māori Language Week, there are many benefits to broadcasting Māori faces, the Māori language, and Māori history on the nation’s main broadcaster.

Therefore I leave that thought to hang upon the walls of this Chamber tonight, and state that the Māori Party will not support this bill. Despite the Minister’s paying minor attention to the objections, in the end we do not believe that this bill will satisfy our expectations. There is much work to be done to strengthen Māori programming, which is not covered within the details of this bill, so the Māori Party opposes this bill.