The newly-funded documentary project Being Chlöe has been described as a follow-up to this nine-minute short documentary from 2020, OK Chlöe. Video / Loading Docs
Public funding for a documentary about Green MP Chlöe Swarbrick is a worthwhile price to pay for keeping democracy vibrant, a political scientist says.
But a former National Party arts minister says a self-absorbed, left-leaning New Zealand On Air would never sign off so lavishly on documentaries about MPs from other parties.
NZ On Air was labelled out of touch and wasteful yesterday for awarding $200,000 of taxpayer money on a documentary about Swarbrick.
Act Party leader David Seymour said Swarbrick should reject any role in the publicly funded documentary.
Professor Bronwyn Hayward said despite the subsequent backlash, there was value in viewers learning more about MPs through documentaries.
She said TV was expensive to produce, and the public could learn a lot from documentaries about MPs from any party.
University of Canterbury's politics Professor Bronwyn Hayward says TV is expensive to make and there's a public interest in learning more about MPs. Photo / Supplied
"If New Zealand On Air thinks that there is a public interest in understanding how David Seymour's career has developed and the development of the Act Party, and there's public interest in understanding the rise and history and experience of Chris Luxon or Chlöe Swarbrick ... These are all stories in which we're understanding more as citizens about the people who are representing us."
Hayward, from the University of Canterbury, said as long as MPs or parties weren't in charge of the editorial content, such projects were worthwhile investments.
"I would just like as a member of the public and a citizen to know more about them and the way they've come to lead," she told the Herald.
Auckland Central MP Chlöe Swarbrick is the country's youngest Parliamentarian. Photo / Dean Purcell
Hayward said public figures who agreed to be followed for documentaries actually took some risks if they had no control over the editorial.
An NZ On Air funding decision described Being Chlöe as a documentary exploring the political and personal life of New Zealand's youngest MP.
Apart from the $200,000, it received $20,000 from the NZ Film Commission.
Swarbrick did not engage with media outside the House of Representatives today but Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson had no problem with the funding decisions.
"She should do what she needs to do. We've had documentaries over many years made by that organisation, so it's not even a thing," she said today.
But Davidson could not elaborate on what if any similar documentaries had been made with a comparable amount of public funding.
"MPs stay far away from those decisions, as they should."
David Seymour today said it was unprecedented for so much public money to be allocated to a documentary about a sitting MP.
"I personally like Chlöe but there's an opportunity for her to be above politics here and say: I don't think that the board of New Zealand On Air, that's appointed by politicians, should be giving money to two-hour documentaries with the name of a politician standing for office in the title."
He said NZ On Air was supposed to be politically neutral but now seemed anything but.
"It's bad for New Zealand. It's bad for our democracy."
Former Arts, Culture and Heritage Minister Chris Finlayson told Newstalk ZB the documentary was a misuse of taxpayer money.
"It's pretty ropey in my opinion," Finlayson said today.
"It does seem rather odd that there is such a documentary being produced about a Green MP."
Former National Party minister Chris Finlayson says the new NZOA funding decision is "ropey". Photo / Mark Mitchell
Finlayson told Newstalk ZB this morning it was unlikely NZ On Air would allocate similar funding to documentaries about MPs from all other Parliamentary parties.
"Basically, you have an intrinsically left-wing organisation, and they'll be pushing their own political views," he told ZB's Early Edition.
"No, of course not. It's the principle that matters," Finlayson said when asked if releasing the documentary after the next election made the production acceptable.
NZ On Air yesterday claimed "misinformation' was circulating about the proposed 90-minute documentary.
"The project is an extension of the critically acclaimed 2020 Loading Docs short documentary OK Chlöe and is to be a 'warts and all exploration' of the personal journey of NZ's youngest MP," an NZ On Air spokeswoman said.
Swarbrick yesterday directed queries to a producer, and Government ministers have avoided commenting in any detail, citing NZ On Air's independence.
"I'm sure you'll know that New Zealand On Air makes its funding decisions independently of Government," Broadcasting Minister Kris Faafoi said today.
