Broadcasters slam Public Health Bill

TVNZ and Canwest have slammed the awful Public Health Bill which would give health bureaucrats the power to regulate, well anything at all, if they think it is for the public good.

In the past decisions to, for example, restrict alcohol advertising on television would be decided by a new law in Parliament, with six months of consideration, public select committee hearings and ultimately votes by all 120 MPs.

This new law would allow the Director-General of Health to ban chocolate bar advertising from all media, if he or she decided it was desirable for “public health”. There would be no vote in Parliament.

But it gets even worse than that. As TVNZ points out, the health bureaucrats could even force TV programmes off the air. They could promulgate a code stating it is illegal to have a TV show which shows characters with unhealthy lifestyles.  So there goes Homer on The Simpsons, and Denny Crane on Boston Legal.

Now is this not far fetched and unlikely. Well, yes – but why on Earth would we even consider giving such draconian powers to the Government. Should one just blindly rely on the Government to choose to be self restrained and not use all the powers Parliament votes it?

Helen Clark has said she does not know of any reduction of freedoms that have occurred on her watch. Such blindness must be how this bill made it through Cabinet.