Minister Kris Faafoi on working in a Coalition government.

“This is a pure MMP government. MMP was brought in for a number of reasons to make sure that everyone’s vote counted and to make sure that we didn’t have unbridled power that we had under first past the post. This is MMP in action and I don’t think it is such a big issue when you look at the entirety of things we have achieved over the past 11 months. I would ask you to judge us on all of those things not just a couple of issues that have popped up in the last couple of weeks.”

Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Kris Faafoi on rising insurance premiums, “We are going to keep a pretty close eye on that.”

“The insurance changes forces is a debate about future planning”

When asked whether some areas could become uninsurable, the Minister said, “I think if you look at Cyclone Gita and Fehi earlier this year some of those coastal towns on the West Coast got hit pretty hard and people start talking about the long term future of those places and in amongst that it becomes an insurance debate and we are now starting to see those insurance companies talking about risk based pricing.”

When asked whether there could be a stand-alone insurance regulator, the Minister said, “there could be but it depends on what comes out of the recommendations during that review.”

Broadcasting Minister Kris Faafoi on public media.

“I think Clare set a pretty clear path and priority for this government to make sure that we care about and prioritise public media. The media sector is going through some pretty rapid transformation at the moment and I’ve only had the job for nine days but I think a fresh set of eyes across it is useful at the moment.”

“It is really important when you have got so much content coming from us online now that New Zealand has the ability to be proud of its own culture, have its own identity and I think it’s a challenge as to how we get that in front of New Zealanders.”

CORIN: RNZ+. Are we going to see Clare’s vision which was to have a stand-alone RNZ public service TV channel?

“We’re committed to making sure there is strong public media as I say I’m getting my eyes and ears across a lot of people in the sector. I’ve spoken to Michael Stiassny who is part of the media advisory group I’d note that they had a different opinion. At this very early stage, I think we’ve got to be mindful that it is such a fast moving feast…”

CORIN: Is that a bit of a pipe dream now?

“I don’t think it’s a pipe dream. What I think we want to make sure we are achieving is those stories that make us proud that give us our identity can be put out there by what means we do that is the big question…”

CORIN: Is it a don’t know or you just don’t want to commit?

“Nine days into the job.. I think I might need a little bit more time to get around the sector as well.”

When asked how worried he is about Netflix, Google all these entities that are getting the bulk of the advertising revenue in New Zealand, the Minister said, “In the very short time I have been the Minister a number of people have pointed out to me the impact that is having on media ad revenue so I think making sure that we have plurality of voices a number of media outlets here in New Zealand it’s important to make sure we have democracy. But also I think making sure that we look at what Crown assets we’ve got in terms of media and seeing if we can do a better job of that.”

Please find the full interview here.

Q+A, 9:30pm Sundays on TVNZ 1 and one hour later on TVNZ 1 + 1.

Streamed live at www.tvnz.co.nz

Thanks to the support from NZ On Air.

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