10. BRENDON BURNS (Labour—Christchurch Central) Link to this
to the Minister of Broadcasting
When did the Government decide to offer financial support to a TVNZ-led bid to gain the free-to-air rights for the Rugby World Cup?
Hon GERRY BROWNLEE (Leader of the House) Link to this
The Government is committed to the concept of a stadium of 4 million people supporting the Rugby World Cup in 2011. Free-to-air broadcasts of matches must, therefore, have the widest possible coverage. The Government is united in that view. However, the specifics of any costs have not yet been determined.
Mr SPEAKERI do not need a point of order. The question on notice asked a very straight question: when did the Government decide to offer financial support to TVNZ? Either the Government has or it has not offered support, but the House deserves to hear an answer to the question since it was on notice and it is a straight question.
Hon GERRY BROWNLEE Link to this
And I gave a straight answer. The specifics of any costs have not been determined.
The question on notice did not ask what the cost was. The Minister is perfectly at liberty to point out that the Government has not decided to offer financial support, but the question asked “When did the Government decide to offer financial support to a TVNZ-led bid to gain the free-to-air rights for the Rugby World Cup?”. It may be that the answer is that the Government has not decided to do that, but if it has, the question asked about when it decided. It did not ask about how much money is involved. I ask the Minister to answer the question.
Hon GERRY BROWNLEE Link to this
I raise a point or order, Mr Speaker. You are deciding to interpret the question as being one that is correct. I would love to know where the verification that the Government has made such a determination came from in the first place. I decided—
I invite the Minister to resume his seat. A perfectly fair answer to the question would be that the Government has not made such a decision. That is a perfectly proper answer, but the Minister did not offer the House that answer. It is a perfectly fair and proper question, and there is public interest in it. I believe that the House deserves to hear an answer. Forgive me; I am not interpreting the question. “When” is a very simple word.
Hon GERRY BROWNLEE Link to this
The Government has not determined the specifics of any costs that may be required.
Hon Trevor Mallard Link to this
I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. Again, I say the question was one of timing, and “when” is a very simple word. I think your office has been supplied with material from the Hon Jonathan Coleman, which I am sure people will be finding for us now, indicating that the Government had made that decision. All—
I do not want to get into debating the substance of the matter. The question simply asked “When did the Government decide to offer financial support?”. It did not ask about the specifics; it asked when a decision was made to offer financial support. It may be that it is not in the public interest to reveal that, but the question has been on notice for some hours and I think the House deserves to hear an answer.
Hon Trevor Mallard Link to this
I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. The problem I have now is that authentication was given—
The member will resume his seat. The member is now disputing the answer that the Minister has given. The Minister has given a very clear answer that such a decision has not been made. There are further supplementary questions to pursue that, and that is the proper use of supplementary questions.
Is it correct, as the New Zealand Herald website is reporting this afternoon, that the Government has now decided to do another U-turn and leave Māori Television as the lead provider of Rugby World Cup free-to-air coverage?
Hon GERRY BROWNLEE Link to this
This Government has not made a U-turn on this issue, just as it has not on any other issue.
Can the Minister say how it was made clear to Māori Television in the week before the bids went in, as the Minister claimed yesterday, that the Government supported the Television New Zealand (TVNZ) - led bid for Rugby World Cup free-to-air rights?
Hon GERRY BROWNLEE Link to this
I think the member is relying on a series of media reports in order to reach the assertions that were made in that question. I can confirm that all the parties are currently meeting. They are discussing the matter amicably, and the stadium of 4 million people will be achieved by this Government.
Can the Minister give the House an assurance that neither he nor his office directly—[ Interruption]
I apologise to the honourable member. There was interjection from the Labour front bench, which meant I could not hear his supplementary question. I must hear these supplementary questions, and I must say that the interjection was unacceptable, too.
Can the Minister give the House an assurance that neither he nor his office directly or indirectly passed information to any other broadcasters regarding the size of the Māori Television Service’s bid?
Hon GERRY BROWNLEE Link to this
The Government became aware of the Māori Television Service bid because the figure was in the general discussion around the matter.
Hon Trevor Mallard Link to this
In light of the Minister’s answer to the original question, why did Mr English tell Mr Sharples on 8 October and the media on 9 October that the Government was supporting the TVNZ bid?
Hon Rodney HideI raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. With the greatest of respect, although there is a great deal of interest, that question cannot be in order. First of all, it started off with a long, rambling “In light of”. The Minister of Broadcasting cannot be responsible for what the Minister of Finance may or may not have said.
Hon Trevor Mallard Link to this
There is probably hardly any need to speak to that point of order, but in his answer the Minister indicated that something did not occur, when it is very clearly on the record from Dr Sharples and the media comments from Mr English that it did.
As far as the first part of the Hon Rodney Hide’s point of order goes, I do not accept the point he made, because all the member asked was along the lines of “In light of an earlier answer”, and in my view, that is not to be discouraged. To me it is to be encouraged in this House that members listen to answers and ask supplementary questions based on earlier answers. In my view, that is a good use of question time, so I have no problem with the member saying something like “In light of an earlier answer”. In respect of where the Minister’s ministerial responsibilities may or may not end, I leave that up to the Minister to be a better judge of than I am as Speaker. The Hon Trevor Mallard can ask his question again.
Hon Trevor Mallard Link to this
In light of the Minister’s final answer to the substantive question, why did Mr English tell Dr Sharples on 8 October that the TVNZ bid was going to be financially supported by the Government, and why did his office tell the media that on 9 October?
Hon GERRY BROWNLEE Link to this
The Minister of Broadcasting has no knowledge of what Mr English may or may not have told other Ministers, but I can tell the member that this Government is committed to the notion of a stadium of 4 million people. That requires as wide a spread of free-to-air broadcasting as possible. As the Prime Minister has said today, all parties are discussing the matter at the moment. There will be a good result for all New Zealanders. I think we should be very pleased that we have reached this position.
Hon Trevor Mallard Link to this
I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. I know that you are very strict on not allowing people to dispute answers by way of a point of order, but I am faced with an enormous problem. In the reply to the substantive question—
The member must resume his seat right now. I cannot allow answers to be disputed by way of point of order. The Minister gave a perfectly fair answer to that. He said, speaking on behalf of the Minister of Broadcasting today, that that Minister has no knowledge about what may have taken place between other Ministers. That seemed to answer the question the member asked. We cannot litigate the quality of an answer by way of a point of order.
Hon Pete HodgsonI raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. The essence of the concern on this side of the House is that we have good reason to believe that the Minister’s answer to the primary question in question 10 was an error. We have—
The member will resume his seat. No, I cannot allow the accuracy of answers to be litigated by way of a point of order. I invite members to think about the answers they have given. They have more opportunities in the future, and even further opportunity today, to ask further supplementary questions on the matter if they remain concerned about the answers that have been given.
Hon Gerry Brownlee Link to this
I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. This is all getting a bit silly, but I can clarify that it is unlikely that Mr English was in a position to make those comments, because he was actually out of the country at the time.
Hon Trevor Mallard Link to this
In response to that, I say some members on this side could use phones when they were Ministers—or even emails. I seek leave to table from the Stuff website something updated at 0907 hours on 13 October: a statement from Dr Coleman indicating that the Government would put up money to boost the TVNZ bid.
Are we to understand from the Minister’s response to the initial question that we are now seeing the Government, in an attempt to save its coalition with the Māori Party, overturn a comment and statement of only yesterday from the Minister of Broadcasting about a TVNZ-led bid, supported by the Government, for the Rugby World Cup?