3. SUE KEDGLEY (Green) to the Minister of Broadcasting: Has he told Radio New Zealand that its funding will be frozen for a number of years; if so, how many?

Hon MAURICE WILLIAMSON (Minister for Building and Construction) on behalf of the Minister of Broadcasting: The Minister has made it clear to the Radio New Zealand board that, like a number of other Government agencies, Radio New Zealand must live within its current baselines.

Dr Russel Norman: I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. The Minister has had this question for some time. It is a pretty straightforward question: have the funds been frozen; if so, for how long? There was no attempt to address either part of the question.

Mr SPEAKER: I appreciate the point the member is making, because the question is on notice and it does ask “if so, how many” years. I ask the Minister to respond, because the answer could be interpreted as meaning indefinitely. I ask the Minister to respond to that part of the question.

Hon MAURICE WILLIAMSON: As many members of this House will know, funding changes year by year. However, for the foreseeable 2 to 3-year baseline out-years, Radio New Zealand has been asked to live within that baseline.

Sue Kedgley: Why is he ignoring the advice of the board and chief executive of Radio New Zealand that current funding levels are already unsustainable, and that any freeze in funding will undermine the quality and standards of Radio New Zealand and its charter?

Hon MAURICE WILLIAMSON: It is quite the opposite. I quote from a letter to Dr Coleman from Christine Grice, the chairman, dated 21 January—that is, just last month—in which Ms Grice says: “The board is satisfied that the funding gap will be bridged to meet the requirements you laid out at our December meeting as being the bottom-line requirements to enable Radio New Zealand to manage within the present funding over the next 2 to 3 years while meeting its statutory and charter obligations on a sustainable basis, and be ready for this implementation on 31 March.”

David Garrett: Does the Minister know, through the radio ratings, how many people listen to Radio New Zealand, or is he, like the rest of the New Zealand taxpayers who fund it, kept in the dark about listener numbers?

Hon MAURICE WILLIAMSON: I do not have those ratings, but I think they are very well publicised.

Sue Kedgley: Is not a freeze in baseline funding really a cut when other costs for rent, transmission, power, and so forth are all going up?

Hon MAURICE WILLIAMSON: No, it is not. Many Government organisations find a number of various ways in which they can make savings—savings they should have been making over many years. Those savings can allow for at least the same, if not an even better, product to be delivered over time within those baselines.

Sue Kedgley: Why did the Minister give the Radio New Zealand board an ultimatum to change its mindset and adopt a more commercial approach, or else, in his letter to the chair of the Radio New Zealand board on 2 February?

Hon MAURICE WILLIAMSON: The Minister has not given any clear direction to Radio New Zealand about what it must do to achieve the goal. All he has asked it to do is to make sure it can work within its baselines, and to reply to him in detail about how it will achieve it. So all the rumour-mongering and scare-mongering that the Minister has directed Radio New Zealand to cut FM or to start getting sponsorship is not correct.

Sue Kedgley: What did he mean, then, when he demanded that the board change its mindset and look at alternative revenue models—in other words, adopt a more commercial approach—when Radio New Zealand’s legislation says explicitly that it must be free of advertising and sponsorship, and must remain commercial-free?

Hon MAURICE WILLIAMSON: I am quite perplexed as to why the questioning carries on, given that I have read a letter from the chair of Radio New Zealand, who says that Radio New Zealand can deliver all its statutory and charter obligations from within the current baselines. I am really not sure what the member is on about.

Clare Curran: What level of cuts in programming at Radio New Zealand is he prepared to accept?

Hon MAURICE WILLIAMSON: Again, I refer the member to the statements the Minister has made. He wants Radio New Zealand to look at its service and its delivery, and to look at how it can make changes, as so many other Government departments and agencies have been asked to do, to find out areas that can be made more efficient, that can deliver things better and more cost-effectively, but without reducing its ability to deliver both its statutory and its charter obligations. I would have thought Labour would think that was an absolutely perfectly natural thing to do with any Government agency.

Sue Kedgley: Does he agree that some of the options for cost savings that Radio New Zealand has been forced to consider, such as reducing its regional news coverage, will undermine the quality of Radio New Zealand programmes and its charter?

Hon MAURICE WILLIAMSON: Once again, I am quite gobsmacked. Radio New Zealand has not been forced to consider anything. It has been asked to come back with a plan about how it will deliver the requirements under the Act and the charter within its baselines. It will make the decision about what changes it makes to its operations; it is not being directed to do any specific thing.

Sue Kedgley: Has he discussed Radio New Zealand’s funding with any chief executives from private sector radio, such as the former MediaWorks chief executive, Brent Impey, who campaigned last year for cuts to Radio New Zealand?

Hon MAURICE WILLIAMSON: Because I am answering on behalf of the Minister, it would be impossible for me to answer that question.