Canadian rated best to lead Maori TV

By AUDREY YOUNG

The Canadian chosen to head the Maori Television Service, John Davy, was by far the best applicant, says board chairman Derek Fox.

And the panel that appointed him was made up entirely of Maori.

Mr Davy's appointment was confirmed late yesterday. Earlier rumours that the job had gone to a foreigner raised some eyebrows in Maoridom.

But Mr Fox said Mr Davy, who reportedly does not speak Maori, was selected for his strong financial and management skills.

"I can understand that people will be apprehensive but I am confident the guy will deliver."

Mr Davy has been living in Auckland since last June, according to a curriculum vitae issued by the Maori Television Service.

Listed among his former jobs are chief executive for Asia Pacific Investment Advisors in Hong Kong and for International Business Partners in Canada and chief financial officer for an unnamed Saudi Arabian telecommunications company.

The CV says he is an accomplished recording and video producer, composer, songwriter, musician and author of two books, The Platinum Formula and The Art of Record Producing, and has experience in events management and professional sports administration.

He holds a master of business administration degree from Denver University.

He was a member and adviser to the British Columbia Securities Commission and a member and adviser to the Middle East Round Table for International Relations.

Mr Davy could not be contacted for comment last night.

Mr Fox would not say how much he will be paid.

"I don't know why he needs to have his employment details splashed all over the paper," he said.

The salary may be available later through an annual report.

The channel's accountability requirements were raised yesterday when Mr Fox and other members of the board appeared before Parliament's Maori affairs select committee.

They criticised the amount of money given to the service (it has received $3.8 million) and structures set out in the Maori Television Service Bill.

"We felt that the proposed vehicle or structure is unduly restrictive and archaic," Mr Fox said.

The board wants the Government to decide whether its funding of the service is a settlement of successful Treaty of Waitangi Maori language claims taken through the Waitangi Tribunal and courts to the Privy Council by the Maori language group Nga Kaiwhakapumau i te Reo and the Maori Council.

If so, the board argues, restrictions being placed on its investments, borrowings, and appointments, for example, are inappropriate.

National MP Georgina te Heuheu said there was much in the bill that smacked of "you can't trust Maori".

"It's insulting."

The board is a mixture of private and public interests. Three of its members are appointed by the Crown and four by an electoral college of Maori organisations and language groups.

Hone Harawira, the head of the electoral college, Te Putahi Paho, told the select committee the bill should impose a levy on all commercial revenue from all channels to provide extra finance for the Maori channel, similar to a levy for Welsh television.

Tainui Stephens, in a submission for the organisation Nga Aho Whakaari (Maori in Film, Video and Television), said the money for the channel was inadequate.

Welsh television received an average $93,000 an hour of programming.

"In stark contrast, the Maori television industry is expected to work within a budget of approximately $30,000 an hour of programming."

But he said there was great optimism and excitement about the channel.

Te Taura Whiri o Te Reo Maori (the Maori Language Commission) said in its submission that the use of English should be phased out from the new channel over five years.

The electoral college said it defeated the purpose for programmes about Maori and on Maori issues to be broadcast in English.

Mr Fox indicated the channel's starting date had been extended by at least two months to August.