Newly announced ACT candidate Paul Henry says there's "not a racist bone" in his body as he plugs the unsuccessful Treaty Principles Bill and dismisses his past controversies, saying "can we not move on from it?"
Henry, a broadcaster of some four decades who announced his candidacy five days ago and will not contest an electorate, made the comments on Q+A on Sunday while defending ACT's pitch of equal treatment regardless of race.
He was asked about one of his most notorious broadcasting moments — his on-air suggestion that a New Zealand-born governor general was someone who did not look or sound like a New Zealander — and whether it sat awkwardly with a pitch on equality..
"You will recall at the time that I apologised, the apology was accepted," Henry replied.
"The apology was decades ago. Can we not move on from it?"
Jack Tame grills Paul Henry on 'notorious' broadcasting moment - Watch on TVNZ+
Henry said he was sailing "a very fine line" for three hours of live television, five days a week for years, which meant occasionally slipping up.
"I slipped up then, and I apologised."
TV host announces latest bid for Parliament, expressing disappointment in other coalition parties. (Source: 1News)
When pushed, Henry added that "there is not a racist bone in my body."
On the Treaty Principles Bill, Henry accepted there could be an argument that the principles it defined differed from the actual text of the Treaty.
But he maintained the bill had been a success in every respect but the vote.
"That bill received widespread acceptance from New Zealand. In terms of the reaction to that bill, it was an absolute success. Where it became a failure was it was voted down."
Henry, who will not contest an electorate, also spoke about the endorsement of his candidacy by former prime minister Sir John Key, whom he described as the best prime minister of his lifetime, putting Key's success down to authenticity.
"One of the things you have to be in politics is very genuine," he said.
"This is an advantage that I've got because, quite frankly, I'm just me, and I can only be me because I haven't got the energy to pretend I'm someone else.
"The thing with John Key is he was just him, you know."
Restoring NZ's 'aspirational vibe' - Henry
Henry said his reason for entering politics was to give his grandchildren the same opportunity to grow up in the "paradise" he enjoyed as a child.
Asked to reconcile that era — a period of top tax rates north of 60%, free university and a large state housing programme — with joining the party of small government, Henry said he was describing something less tangible.
"What we're talking about is the vibe. We're talking about an aspirational vibe. When I was growing up in this country, no one was handing me an excuse for not performing in my life. No one was offering me reasons for my own failure before I had even tried."
Henry rejected the suggestion the era's egalitarianism was a product of state settings, and said the expectation now was that the state would care for people "cradle to the grave". He then described his memory of a post-war New Zealand.
"It was a country of pioneers. We were building a country. People were using those opportunities as springboards for their own future."
Veteran media man won't 'create policy on the hoof'
The veteran broadcaster, who had also spent a year as a board member of national broadcaster TVNZ before announcing his candidacy, was asked how he would respond to foreign tech giants funnelling advertising revenue offshore.
"That's quite a business model, isn't it?" Henry said. "On the surface, no, it's not fair."
But he would not be drawn on what he would do about it, saying legislation should only follow careful thought.
"It is much more complicated than just coming up with a draconian policy that challenges foreign entities," he said.
"I'm not going to create policy on the hoof. All I'm doing is recognising that there's a problem."
The exchange grew pointed when it was suggested his lack of detail was telling, given his career in the sector, his year on the TVNZ board, and his bid for Parliament.
Henry maintained there was "an element of levelling the playing field that we need to look at", and argued advertisers should question the returns they got from international platforms, suggesting domestic platforms also offered high-quality advertising.
"More and more advertisers now are looking at the response they're getting from their advertising... they would be a lot better to take a lot of that money back and put it on domestic platforms such as television."
Asked whether he would push for ACT to shift its own campaign advertising from Google and Facebook, Henry said it was "certainly something that I am interested in".
For the full interview, watch the video above
Q+A with Jack Tame is made with the support of New Zealand On Air
SHARE ME