Last night in Auckland in a packed hall in Freemans Bay, speaker after speaker rose from the floor to speak passionately about how important it was to our nation to keep a public television service.

This was the first of seven public meetings being organised around the country by SaveTVNZ7, a group which formed last year to try to save TVNZ7 from being axed by the National Government on 30 June.

Meeting details:
Wellington – Monday May 21st, Wesley Church Hall, 75 Taranaki St 7-9pm
Nelson - Friday May 25th – Trafalgar Pavilion Hall 6-8pm
Christchurch – Monday May 28th (venue tbc)
Palmerston North – Tuesday 5th June Apologies Wednesday 6th June- All Saints Church Hall, cnr The Square & Church St
Dunedin – Thursday 7th June – Barnett Theatre – Otago University,
Hamilton – June 13th (venue tbc)

If you can, please attend a meeting in your town. If you want a meeting in your community contact myself or Myles Thomas, the SaveTVNZ7 organiser savetvnz7@gmail.com

The NZ Herald has video coverage here of last night’s event which began with pallbearers bringing in the coffin of TVNZ7. Worth a watch.

The death of public television will be at the National Govt’s hands.

The seventh last episode of Back Benches screens tonight on TVNZ7 at 9pm. If you’re in Wellington, go along and watch. Labour’s Grant Robertson will be speaking. There may be a visitation by the Goodnight Kiwi.

I thought the Minister of Labour would get the hint that Labour knew more than she was telling when I asked her a question in the House last Wednesday. Then in my speech on Tau Henare’s strike ballot bill I outlined the stupidity of her government’s proposals in regard to pay reductions for partial strikes – and she was in the House listening.

So I was gobsmacked that when the papers were revealed in the Dompost, Kate Wilkinson suggested that I had made them up. Later that day, the government was forced to come clean and made the announcements I knew were coming.

The changes will systematically take apart our labour relations framework, part by part and clause by clause. Our employment law will still be called the Employment Relations Act, but the worst provisions of that most draconian of employment laws from the 1990’s, the Employment Contracts Act will replace much of it. They will do nothing to address the most volatile industrial relations environment we’ve seen in NZ in years, and will definitely do nothing to increase wages and provide decent work.

The government is couching their plans in the Crosby Textor language of “choice, balance, flexibility” and are described as “minor” by the PM John Key.

That’s rubbish. We’ve got a wages crisis in New Zealand and that’s because our employment relations system isn’t working to ensure fairness for working people. The government’s changes will make this worse.

Last week, when we were debating Tau Henare’s secret ballots for strikes bill (which has now passed and will soon become law), National Party MPs indulged themselves in an outburst of the “free at last” quote from Martin Luther King.

Well, that great man died in Memphis when he was attending a struggle for the right of public workers to have a union and to collectively bargain.

King declared : “Let it be known everywhere, that along with wages and all of the other securities that you are struggling for, you are also struggling for the right to organise and be recognised.” The key issues for the Memphis strikers were their demands that the City of Memphis grant collective bargaining rights and the collection of union fees.

I’m taking bets on how many National MPs stand up and quote Martin Luther King on collective bargaining and workers rights when these miserable changes come to the Parliament.

And let it be known everywhere : Labour will oppose these changes vigorously and determinedly.

I’m on the road at present but as soon as I get to a computer I will have a lot to say.

CYBER-BULLIES: It used to be, if you were bullied at school, home could be a refuge. But now in the age of the internet—bullies can always be there simply with a click of a mouse. How can we reduce the harm caused by cyber-bullies? The law commission has several proposals but how many will or should we adopt? Do parents need to do more to protect their kids on the internet? Can they do more? And when the Chief Coroner talks—why aren’t we listening?

A REQUIRED SHOT: A new proposal under consideration for beneficiaries—immunise your children to get your benefit. As Social Development Minister Paula Bennett says, “We see immunisations as important so when you’re looking at those kinds of things, you question at what point should a social obligation be part of a requirement to get a benefit.” We’ve got shocking immunisation rates—so is this a good idea? Or benefit bashing? As always, prevention is cheaper than a cure so does compulsory immunisation make sense? By that argument then, why not require immunisation jabs for entry into schools?

LIVE pub politics from the Backbencher Pub: Wednesday, 16th of May. Our Panel: Green Party MP Holly Walker, Labour MP Grant Robertson, National MP Colin King, and New Zealand First MP Tracey Martin.

No matter what your background, your occupation, your age, your circumstances, this is a day when it’s good to pause and think about why mums are important. And to tell them.

This week, young mums have been in the spotlight. I believe that as a country we could do better to treat mothers of all ages and backgrounds with high respect. Nurturing the next generation, the teaching of values, the strength and stability of that primary bond. These are all things to be highly valued by our nation.

I worry that these values are being eroded.

On a personal note, at 10 to 7 this morning I received a text  which read Happy Mother’s Day. God Bless.

It took me a while to work out who it was from. He was a constituent who had contacted me in desperation last August after being made redundant from Hillside. He had debts, four kids, his electricity was about to be cut off and his terminally ill wife was dependent on a respirator. It was a terribly sad story and I did what I could to help him. He now has another job and things are back on track. His text today made me cry.

There’s another day when we value our dads. But today I wish all the mums a happy mother’s day. Especially my own mum. She’s certainly not perfect and sometimes drives me mad, but she’s always been there for me and has been a moral compass throughout my life. In recent years she’s become more of a friend.

And thoughts to those who have lost their mum.

Happy Mother’s Day.

David Shearer Unplugged.

The Aussie Govt contributes around $912 million a year to the ABC and around $200 million to SBS.

The Australians continue to invest in public broadcasting. Meanwhile, New Zealand’s only public broadcasting television channel TVNZ7 which costs $16 million a year to run will be axed on 30 June because this government doesn’t support it. Doesn’t put a value on it.

Go figure!

Support the campaign to Save TVNZ7 here and here

Read about the Australian boost to public broadcasting funding.

The Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Stephen Conroy, has announced a range of measures to support Australia’s public broadcasters. The Government will provide an additional $158.1 million over five years to the Special Broadcasting Service Corporation (SBS) in part to launch a new indigenous free-to-air television channel.

“In an increasingly multicultural society, the Australian Government recognises SBS as one of Australia’s most important institutions,” Senator Conroy said. “This represents the most significant funding boost SBS has ever had, and will ensure SBS can continue to provide a unique broadcasting service that includes comprehensive television, radio and online services.

“Like other broadcasters, SBS operates in a rapidly changing broadcasting landscape, which is being affected by the introduction of digital multi-channels, new digital platforms, and changing audience expectations. This additional funding will allow SBS to address its immediate financial pressures, adapt to the changing media environment and build or upgrade its technology capabilities.”

The worst comments were from Tau Henare and other National MPs, who insisted on quoting Martin Luther King saying “Free at Last, Thank God Almighty we are Free at Last.”

How embarrassing to compare a petty little bill, that has nothing to do with freedom, freedom of choice, or more importantly, freedom of association with that great defender of civil rights and equality, Martin Luther King.

Tau Henare and his other acolytes, including Jami-Lee Ross, made speeches that would have made Bill Birch of the 1990s National Party proud.

The prejudice is awful. The consequences for New Zealand workers are dire when you add everything up.

This week, I found out a whole lot more about the government’s intention to roll back worker rights and collective bargaining. (I’ll have more to say on this).

The Minister of Labour, Kate Wilkinson, is due to make her annual junket to the International Labour Organisation (ILO) in Geneva in June. So far, she’s been able to bask in some of the glory from the former Labour government and New Zealand’s place as a respected member of the ILO.  We had moved on from the shame in the 1990s when a special Rappateur was sent to New Zealand to investigate NZ’s breaches of core labour standards.  New Zealand were pariahs in the international labour community then, aligned with third world countries who think workers should be grateful to have jobs. We might be joining them again soon.

I am  wondering how the Minister of Labour will justify Tau Henare’s bill, which on its own, is irrelevant in the scale of issues facing New Zealand workers, but in the bigger picture, will require an explanation of how her government’s changes to collective bargaining and strikes will help advance the rights of New Zealand working people and our place in the world.

Think about this : if the influence of unions is removed altogether in NZ, what will happen to wages, to standards, to fairness?

Would we still have a minimum wage?  Would we have ever moved to four weeks annual leave?

Would there even be a discussion about health and safety?

Or are you willing to leave it up to the Tau Henares and Jami-lee Ross’s of the world?

Today I released a private members bill to save TVNZ7. It goes into a ballot of members bills and has to be drawn to be debated. It would need the support of opposition parties across the House (including the Maori Party and Peter Dunne) in order to succeed.

It creates an independent broadcasting foundation to run the channel which would be renamed TV7. It would be funded by Television New Zealand at $14 million per year – although TVNZ would no longer run it – and would, as far as is practicable, share production facilities and back office services with other state-funded networks.

I reckon we have a right to expect TV that’s about us and tells our stories. So our kids grow up watching Kiwi programmes and not developing American accents. Programmes that become part of the fabric of our lives, whether they’re about dogs herding sheep, Kiwi comedians and satirists, good Kiwi documentaries and dramas and some investigative news. It need not all be Kiwi content. But it should be ours, with no commercials and something we can be proud of.

I’m not precious about what’s on our TV. But I think I, like many other people, want more choice. And I want a channel which is driven by values and not by the advertising dollar.

Public broadcasting everywhere plays an important educative and informative role and is considered an essential responsibility of the state to its citizens. It comes at a cost, but is seen as a cost that must be borne. New Zealand must not turn its back on this responsibility.

In Australia, the ABC network is an integral part of the media and people’s lives. It receives funding from the government of around $912 million a year. Australia’s SBS Channel which carries a small amount of advertising, receives more than $200 million a year. In that context $14 million isn’t much to ask.

TVNZ7 has cost around $16 million a year to run for the last 4 years. It’s watched by more than 1.4 million viewers a month. It has been run by TVNZ and has never been strongly marketed because TVNZ felt it wasn’t in its interests to do so.

On 30 June it will be axed because the National Government doesn’t want to continue funding it. Around the world the audiences for public broadcasting around the world are vast and diverse – they are not elite sections of the population. Most OECD countries ensure that citizens have access to at least one public television channel. They recognise that public television can contribute to a better informed society.

New Zealanders have a right to expect their government to put a value on public broadcasting.

Between now and the end of June there will be a series of public meetings around the country for people to say what they think about public broadcasting. I’ll post details of them tomorrow.

If my Bill gets drawn I hope it will receive broad support, and that MPs who support public broadcasting will vote to send it to a select committee. I reckon it’s worth it.