Tuku's costs standard - Beatson

Costs for a Maori-language documentary by controversial former MP Tukoroirangi Morgan are not unusual, says NZ on Air chairman David Beatson.

There was an outcry last month when the Maori broadcasting funding agency Te Mangai Paho gave Mr Morgan's company $1.84 million to produce a 10-part Maori language series.

Appearing before Parliament's Maori affairs select committee yesterday,, Mr Beatson faced questions about how NZ on Air financed its projects.

The aim of National MPs Murray McCully and Katherine Rich seemed to be to establish that Te Mangai Paho erred in supporting Mr Morgan's company, Astraeus.

Mr Beatson said a number of NZ on Air projects had cost as much as Mr Morgan's series.



He was not surprised when he heard how much the Hawaiki series would cost, he said.

"I understand it is a series, and I understand it is quite an epic series, it has a significant animation component, and it has quite a component for off-shore location shooting.

"The sum does not surprise me."

He cited Hillary: A View From The Top, Our People, Our Century, The New Zealand Wars "and almost any drama series" as costing more than $1.5 million.

"It's not uncommon. We have funded in-depth documentary series on that scale."

Hawaiki, expected to be completed in June, has been criticised because it is being produced only in Maori.

Questions were also raised over the involvement of Mr Morgan's wife, Carolyn, and children, Reikura and Kawariki, in the project.

Mr Beatson said NZ on Air would not have worried about that.

"I like the idea of family companies making things. I think it is a good idea.

"This is a small country - we're all bound together one way or another. We're all going to have some interests in common."

While NZ on Air would not have spent $1.8m on a project that did not have a commitment from a broadcaster, Te Mangai Paho may have done so in anticipation of a Maori TV channel being set up, Mr Beatson said.

Audit New Zealand last month reviewed the funding arrangements for the Astraeus contract, listing only minor concerns.

But it did say Mr Morgan's company did not meet reporting requirements outlined in the contract, although this was rectified last December.

Mr Morgan, a former New Zealand First MP, was dogged by controversy during his term in Parliament due to extravagant spending - particularly the purchase of an $89 pair of underpants - in a previous job as director of the Aotearoa Television Network.

- NZPA