Opposition parties lash televised race relations debate

1.00pm

Opposition MPs have lashed last night's televised debate on race relations, with Act MP Stephen Franks threatening a Broadcasting Standards Authority complaint.

Mr Franks said he would pursue a complaint against TV One for the State of the Nation programme which he said showed a lack of balance.

National Party Maori Affairs spokesman Gerry Brownlee told NZPA he too had serious concerns, and was pondering what to do.

Mr Franks said "fact statements" flashed on screen during the programme were misleading.

Mr Brownlee told NZPA the programme demonstrated the poor calibre of TVNZ current affairs reporting.

"It was the ultimate television cure for insomnia," he said.

"The presenters were very, very poorly prepared, their research was appalling and they appeared to have no understanding of what they were actually about."

National would have another look at the tape, but did not want to overreact to its concerns, he said.

"I think (the programme) would not have added anything positive to the debate that's out there at the present time.

"I don't think that that programme has any merit whatsoever.

"We don't want to give Television New Zealand the idea that any of those presenters have any sort of future in that sort of broadcasting."

Mr Franks specified three concerns over the "facts" issued by the programme.

* the 5.6 per cent of New Zealand held as Maori freehold land implied a level of inequality that is not justified, when account is taken of general land owned by Maori;

* the claim that Treaty settlements represented a tiny percentage of actual losses must have assumed that current value of land lost was the true measure of loss, when much of it would have been sold for full value over a century ago had it not been wrongly taken; and

* the claim that Maori paid more in income tax than they received in tax funds, when the amounts reportedly received were only cash distributions -- that ignored twice as much in tax-paid services.

"The programme purported to exclude radicals -- I doubt that TVNZ's definition of radical is shared by anyone outside its own politically correct ranks," Mr Franks.

The show was rated an outstanding success by the programme's organisers, but many of the participants were not so sure.

Programme producer John Keir described it as "absolutely worthwhile. It was fantastic, wonderful".

Host Anita McNaught was also upbeat.

"There was an astonishing amount of goodwill. I was staggered by it. The energy was palpable, especially the further the programme went. Lovely people," she said.

"I think we would have smaller groups next time and a smaller panel of experts. I hate not calling on their expertise."

- NZPA