RNZ TVNZ Merge may not be in Maori interest – NZ Maori Council calls for greater investment in infrastructure and jobs
growth across Maori Radio and Media
The New Zealand Maori Council has said any broadcasting reforms to TVNZ and RNZ must also ensure the sustainability of
Maori / Iwi broadcasting. The Council’s Executive Director, Matthew Tukaki, has warned the Government that there has
been a lack of investment in Maori / Iwi Broadcasting that has held the sector back, put a ceiling on jobs growth and
the development of high skilled and high wage growth roles as well as lacking growth across new forms of media.
“The historical Te Reo Maori Claim that the Council was heavily involved in that led to the recognition of Te Reo Maori
as an official language of New Zealand in the late eighties was the first step in not just growing and protecting our
language it was also wrapped up in the radio spectrum claim – about the mediums we could use to project Te Reo Maori,
share our stories and news, communicate to a broader audience and so on.” Tukaki said
“Step forward to today and we have a good number of really excellent Iwi and Maori radio stations out there who are
operating on the smell of an oily rag – because their growth has been stunted as a result of a lack of both
infrastructure and workforce capacity. You walk into any of our radio stations and many are using radio equipment from
the dark ages – equipment that takes a lot to maintain. Then there is the case of the continual missed opportunities of
growing a workforce. I mean today we are also dealing with the opportunity of social media and using those types of
platforms to communicate and engage with Maori audiences – and yet because of the lack of investment it’s hard to grow
the workforce to meet demand.” Tukaki said
“This in itself is a missed opportunity because we know that these sorts of jobs are in the high wage growth category
and they are jobs that create more opportunities in life including the ability to save for a house and so on. More to
the point imagine the audiences our media organizations could reach when it comes to Te Reo Maori and Maori Culture if
only they had the chance.” Tukaki said
“The Government can have all the plans they want but what we really need is infrastructure investment and to that end
that’s why I want to see an additional $50 million invested over the next five years to bring those organisations up to
speed with the latest infrastructure and a further $50 million to really grow our human potential – in other words the
resource base to make this all happen.” Tukaki said
“In addition to this a greater investment in content and program production, investment into documentary and story
development as well. This investment will be returned twenty fold but the Government needs to first recognise that it’s
not about them – it’s about our people.” Tukaki said
“As for the potential merger between Radio NZ and TVNZ I would caution the Government that unless there is a clear plan
that there will be growth of Maori content and not a decline then we’ll be seeing you in the Waitangi Tribunal and
reflect on those historical claims I mentioned before – Government forgets that Maori Council is a watcher of events on
behalf of our people” Tukaki said
“On the other side in terms of the mainstream commercial market we must do more to also provide infrastructure
investment to TVNZ and RNZ – as well as Television Three – TV 3 is often left off the table and that has to change. We
need to give them all access to the same level playing field as I would expect to be given to Iwi Maori radio and
media.” Tukaki said
ends