THE Hauraki Plains Gazette With which is Incorporated THE OHINEMURI GAZETTE MONDAY, WEDNESDAY, FRIDAY. “Public Service.” WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 12, 1945 PARLIAMENT BROADCAST

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume 54, Issue 32620, 12 September 1945, Page 4

THE Hauraki Plains Gazette With which is Incorporated THE OHINEMURI GAZETTE MONDAY, WEDNESDAY, FRIDAY. “Public Service.” WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 12, 1945 PARLIAMENT BROADCAST

Early indications are that Australia will follow New Zealand in the broadcasting of Parliamentary debates, the evidence of Mr C. G. Scrimgeour and the observations of the chairman of the . Australian Broadcasting Commission upon his return from! New Zealand both suggest this. The latter, Mr Boyer, has said that Parliamentary broadcasts have come to stay in New Zealand. The truth of that is undeniable; if the public had to decide the point by plebiscite the decision would be overwhelming. Mr Scrimgeour too was correct in saying that Parliamentary broadcasts had only one serious rival in popularity — wrestling broadcasts.

That leads to the point whether the experiment of making the home circle a forum of party politics has raised or lowered the public’s respect for Parliament as a democratic institution. The question is vital. “All-in” wrestlers know they must “mix it” to keep up the public’s interest; they realise they are actors on a stage. And there is evident a similar tendency among some members of Parliament. Too often it is obvious they are speaking to the microphone—to the listening public—and not to the House. And doing this it is natural they are propagandising rather than debating, and are interjecting or obstructing not for the correction of the speaker but for the effect upon the listeners. In a word, speakers, because they are are on the air are more conscious than ever of the magic word, Votes.

That may or may not be a good thing. New Zealanders, thanks to Parliamentary broadcasts, have a personal, active, interest in politics that should approach the democratic ideal. Yet at times after an overdose of showmanship when the all-in tactics are most obnoxious, there is expressed a disgust and impatience that raises a doubt whether Parliamentary broadcasts have been of value in raising the tone and prestige, and the debating quality, of the nation’s legislature.