Public Lending Right for New Zealand Authors Bill

ALLAN PEACHEY Link to this

I am delighted the Ministers opposite have chosen to join me in the House. It is a bit of a privilege for me to be able to speak to the Public Lending Right for New Zealand Authors Bill, and I need to declare my hand very quickly, because I am one of those authors who, from time to time—

ALLAN PEACHEY Link to this

No, I make them up as I go along, unlike the member. I have, from time to time, observed that member’s ineptitude when he gets to his feet, and I try to do better than members opposite. I am one of those authors who benefit from this scheme, and very gratefully too. When an author writes a book many people seem to just think it is free property. It never ceases to amaze me the number of people who say: “I saw your book in the shop. Give me one.” The material that New Zealand authors write has a value. This fund has been in place in various forms since 1973, I think, by way of Cabinet minute, and one of the things it does is acknowledge that such material has value. The National Party will be supporting the referral of the legislation to the Government Administration Committee, but we are very aware the committee has a big job to do. This is typically late Labour-proposed legislation.

It has been interesting to survey previous speakers on the bill, and I enjoyed the way the Minister in charge of the bill, the Hon Judith Tizard, took the opportunity to try to rewrite a bit of New Zealand history! I note that amongst the authors she identified she left out probably the greatest author ever to sit in this Chamber. I wonder why Labour members did not mention the name of the former Labour Member of Parliament John A Lee, who was probably the greatest author to have ever sat in this Chamber. In many ways John Lee’s writings probably redefined our understanding of life in New Zealand. His book Children of the Poor describes growing up in poverty in Dunedin in the 1890s. That was followed by Delinquent Days, the book he wrote describing his experiences at the First World War. Most unlike a Labour man in the First World War, he went, he served, and he lost his arm. Probably his most significant work, and probably why the members on the opposite side do not want to know anything about it, was Simple on a Soapbox, in which he exposed to the New Zealand reading public the real truth of the nature of the first Labour Government. And what did that Government do? It threw him out. It expelled him from its caucus and sent him on his way. It would have been nice if the Minister, when introducing this bill, had taken the trouble to acknowledge a former Labour member of Parliament who was, and probably remains, the greatest author to sit in this House—John A Lee.

I was interested also to find, amongst the speakers, no mention of another great New Zealand writer, Frank Sargeson. I note with interest that the member who spoke on behalf of New Zealand First raised the issue of whether there should be a claim on the estate of dead authors for the continuing use of their work. I do not have a view on that, but I think it is nice to acknowledge the writings of New Zealanders who have gone before us. I think, in particular, of Sargeson and his collected stories, which I used a lot in my previous life—just one-and-a-half, or two-page, little stories that are observations on life and on people—to teach young people a few basic, common-sense, good lessons in life. They are the sort of thing that would not be taught under a curriculum maintained by the socialists.

I also note Mr Jones’ reference to Barry Crump. I, too, want to refer to Barry Crump, who, again, is a great New Zealand author—and a good keen man, as they say. As a teenager at school I read every one of Crump’s books the moment it came on the market.

ALLAN PEACHEY Link to this

Oh, it is hard to go beyond A Good Keen Man, frankly. One’s first book is often one’s best. But the point is that the writings of the New Zealand author Crump have introduced many teenage boys to the enjoyment of reading. I know my own sons both read Crump, and Crump will be an enduring literary presence. I share Mr Jones’ sort of despair when talking to a teacher of literature to hear the works of Crump passed to one side as not real literature. That sort of thing is nonsense. Barry Crump deserves all the recognition he has received and all the recognition he should continue to receive, even beyond his death, for the ability that he had—which any author who is able to publish must have—to use words in a creative way, to use imagination, to use colour, and to use explanation so that other people can enjoy that ability.

Libraries are great places. Libraries, really for generations, have underpinned where we get our knowledge from. I do not care how technologically smart one gets, or how small a laptop one carries around, there will always be a place for the book borrowed from a library, read and enjoyed, and returned for somebody else to read. When that cheque comes each year, and in my case it is not particularly significant, I do not even think about the amount—although I must say as an aside I get really, really frustrated as to how much of it I have to give in taxation to that crowd on the other side to waste for the simple reason that they think they can spend that money better than I can—

ALLAN PEACHEY Link to this

Is that Mr Cosgrove? He really does not know when to sit down and be quiet. I recommend to Mr Cosgrove Simple on a Soapbox by John A Lee so he can find out about one of his predecessors, a former Labour member of Parliament. Lee was a decent member and the Labour Party threw him out. The Labour Party threw that great author out.

I will refer generally to the clauses of this bill, because it worries me. It is not a long bill, for which one is mercifully gratefully, but it does not need to be a long bill in terms of what its objective is. Authors will appreciate having some sort of statutory authority for the protection of their work. We in the National Party actually believe in protecting the personal, private property of people. When one writes a book, that, in effect, is what one is creating—one is creating something in one’s name over which one has ownership and over which one deserves some sort of recognition and consideration. But when I look at the clauses and wander down, as inevitably one will, I see clause 10, entitled “Matters that may be dealt with in regulations”. Writing a book is a creative act. It is not something that one does when one is stifled, and that sort of thing. Labour would regulate to define a New Zealand author, it would regulate to define a New Zealand book, and, finally, it would regulate to define a library. What a nonsense way to approach such a creative activity as writing a book.