Jonathan Coleman MP
National Party Broadcasting Spokesman

27 May 2008

Labour admits Charter failure

"Stripping control of $15 million of direct Charter funding from Television New Zealand is an admission from Labour that the Charter is a failure," says National Party Broadcasting spokesman Jonathan Coleman.

"Labour promised the New Zealand public that the TVNZ Charter would deliver noticeable improvements in the quality of content on our screens.

"Labour told us the Charter would bring about a significantly improved public television service.

"Clearly that hasn't happened; if the Charter was delivering the promised quality improvements, why would the Minister be removing control of Charter money from the state broadcaster?

"This comes on the back of revelations last week that local content on TVNZ is now at lower levels than before the Charter came into effect.

"The real question this raises is why hasn't the Government been monitoring what value $15 million of direct Charter funding has delivered?

"The problem is that the Minister of Broadcasting, the Minister of Arts Culture and Heritage, and the TVNZ Shareholding Minister all left it to each other to monitor Charter performance.

"Why was no one checking to see what the taxpayer was getting for the $15 million of direct Charter funding?

"Trevor Mallard's announcement is an admission that the past six years of direct charter funding hasn't delivered the promised results. It's a total indictment of Labour's failed broadcasting policy."

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