TE KAEA and NATIVE AFFAIRS live to fight another day
MANA Leader and Member of Parliament for Te Tai Tokerau Hone Harawira
Monday 8 September

“I understand that both the chair of the Board of Maori Television, Georgina Te Heuheu, and new CEO, Paora Maxwell, are now saying that my comments this morning about their plans to cut Te Kaea and Native Affairs, were wrong, and that nobody is going to get the sack”, said MANA leader and MP for Tai Tokerau, Hone Harawira “and I say that’s bloody great news! Not just for the staff and their families, but also for those of us who have come to really appreciate the professionalism of the Te Kaea operation, and the hard-hitting nature of Native Affairs.”

“I’m glad that they have been forced to retract” said Harawira “and although they say now that there was nothing in it, the fact is that they had notified staff of an operational restructure, they had planned to meet with senior staff this morning to give them a private briefing, and they had planned to advise all staff of those restructuring plans today.”

“In the end they used their planned staff meeting to tell them that I was wrong, but the big question is …what were they planning on telling the staff if I hadn’t outed them?”
“They had intended announcing the strategic review as I had outlined. They have since advised the Minister that the review proposal has been put on hold.”

“I repeat my comments from yesterday – this review is a politically motivated move inspired by National and the Maori Party to shut down a news service that wasn’t reporting what government wanted them to, and an investigative news programme that was lifting rocks that National and the Maori Party wanted left unturned.”

“And I’m bloody glad that MANA was able to stop them in their tracks.”

ENDS

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