6 March 2009 Media Statement

TVNZ jobs more important than dividend

Labour broadcasting spokesperson Brendon Burns says it is becoming clearer by the day that the Government is putting profits ahead of jobs at Television New Zealand.

“When Broadcasting Minister Jonathan Coleman was interviewed on Morning Report this morning, he repeatedly talked about the importance of TVNZ paying the Government a dividend,” Brendon Burns said.

“Jonathan Coleman’s attitude is that because there’s a lot of taxpayer money tied up in TVNZ, the taxpayer has to get a return on the investment.

“That’s such a narrow point of view. In good times, of course taxpayers expect to see a return,” Brendon Burns said. “But these aren’t good times. They are recessionary times, and taxpayers want to see jobs created or at least preserved, not discarded to suit National’s political ideology.

“The Public Service Association is suggesting that TVNZ may be working toward axing as many as 150 of its 1000 staff as it struggles to meet a $25m drop in advertising revenue.

“Yet Dr Coleman continues to demand that TVNZ pays a dividend to the government, and says the board is going to have to make tough decisions,” Brendon Burns said.

“That’s an appalling attitude to take. Clearly Dr Coleman took little or no interest in his own Government’s jobs summit last week. The summit was designed to preserve jobs. Dr Coleman simply says “tough’. He wants the money instead.”

Brendon Burns said Dr Coleman’s inflexible stance “comes at a time when the television industry is in rapid decline with independent production companies shedding staff, so there is little scope for TVNZ employees who are discarded to find work elsewhere.

“Dr Coleman has got to show flexibility and understanding of the importance of the television industry to New Zealand. He should drop his unreasonable demands, and help keep people in jobs, not assign them to the dole queues.”

ENDS

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