With proposed funding cuts to Māori media amounting to $16 Million in time-limited funding, which is around a quarter of Te Mangai Pāho’s expanded budget base.
“It hasn’t been confirmed, but I have heard that they are not going to lose some of that base funding, which is good news, but we need an opportunity. They need an opportunity in Māori Broadcasting, Whakaata Māori needs an opportunity, Māori radio needs an opportunity, Māori journalists need an opportunity,” said Labour’s Māori Development spokesperson, Willie Jackson.
This comes after the national Māori radio network, Te Whakaruruhau o Ngā Reo Irirangi Māori o Aotearoa, was considering litigation over a potential loss of government funding to radio stations.
Māori Development Minister, Tama Potaka, told Te Ao Māori News he was pleased that Peter Lucas Jones and others were discontinuing the litigation.
“I am really into the action of the protection of te reo Māori, as you know, whether it’s my own commitment inside the house and the mahi we are doing as Government,” he said.
With more than 20 iwi radio stations across New Zealand and with the Coalition Government in favour of targeting funding according to needs rather than ethnicity, there is a pattern of caution and mistrust among Māori-focused initiatives.
“They are not defunding through the budget to Te Mangai Paho, which we allocate funding to. There was some sugar rush money for a while in the Māori Broadcasting space, but we have preserved the baseline allocation from Te Mangai Paho,” said Potaka.
“I think decisions are going to be made on that post-budget.”
Jackson called it “negative funding”, something he has “never seen” before.
“You would think that a Minister would be able to get some targeted funding in housing and Māori Broadcasting, and Māori health, I have never seen it before.”
Te Māngai Pāho (the Māori Broadcasting Funding Agency) was established in 1993. As a Crown entity, it was created to promote te reo Māori and culture by funding television, radio, and digital content. TMP’s baseline is $50m with a time-limited fund of 16 million, which is due to expire in June.
