Racing Amendment Bill

I move, That the Racing Amendment Bill be now read a first time. I nominate the Primary Production Committee to consider the bill. This bill amends the Racing Act 2003. Racing in New Zealand has a long history. The industry includes around 5,000 breeders, 2,000 trainers, 27,000 owners, and the many staff employed by over 100 racing clubs. Racing is an important part of New Zealand’s economy, particularly in rural areas. The racing clubs and their facilities are often local focal points in a community, playing an important role beyond the races themselves.

Racing and betting have a long interwoven history. The Racing Board, which operates the TAB, is the only authorised bookmaker in New Zealand. The Racing Act requires the board to distribute the majority of its profits among the three racing codes. This was over $135 million for the 2016 financial year. The racing industry depends on this income from betting. It accounts for over 90 percent of the three codes’ revenue. However, not every bookmaker that enjoys profits from New Zealand betting makes a contribution.

Although the Racing Board is the only authorised bookmaker in this country, New Zealanders are free to bet with websites that are owned and operated by companies in other countries. Internet gambling is booming around the world, and many of these online companies take bets on New Zealand racing and sports from people in this country. At the moment these offshore operators do not have to pay anything back to New Zealand in recognition of these profits. They are able to bypass the requirements that apply to the Racing Board’s betting operations. In 2015 my predecessor, the Hon Nathan Guy, established the Offshore Racing and Sports Betting Working Group to investigate this issue.

The working group estimated that Australian corporate bookmakers turn over approximately $300 million on bets placed on New Zealand racing and $60 million on New Zealand sporting events. The working group also estimated that around $58 million of gross betting profit per year goes overseas from New Zealanders making bets with offshore bookmakers. The working group made a series of recommendations designed to address this problem. The Department of Internal Affairs consulted publicly on these recommendations in 2016 and the officials have worked closely with the New Zealand Racing Board and with other Government agencies to develop the working group’s recommendations into the Racing Amendment Bill.

At the heart of the bill are provisions that require offshore betting operators to pay to use New Zealand racing and sports information in their betting products and pay when they take New Zealand - based bets on any racing or sports events. These charges are called the information use charge and the consumption charge, respectively. With these charges New Zealand will be following a principle that is already well established in many countries around the world. As consumers purchase more products and services online, remote betting operators should pay their share. For example, many of the Australian states and territories have enacted race fields legislation, which is designed to ensure that bookmakers pay for the racing information they use even if they are based in another jurisdiction.

Although the Racing Amendment Bill follows these international precedents, it is legislation designed from the ground up, specifically to address New Zealand circumstances. Australia’s race-fields regime is successful because of the scale of the Australian domestic betting market. New Zealand’s approach must be more explicitly extra-territorial. This is not straightforward but we believe that the Racing Amendment Bill achieves the right balance to encourage compliance and enable enforcement. The bill names the Department of Internal Affairs as the body to administer these charges. The department may delegate some of its functions. Offshore betting operators will be required to seek the department’s permission and enter an agreement to use New Zealand racing and sports information. The bill establishes that these agreements will be enforceable under New Zealand law. There are a range of penalties that may be imposed on offshore operators who fail to comply with the charging provisions in the bill. One group of offshore bookmakers, the operators of TABs in Australia, currently pay to use New Zealand racing information through a commercial agreement with the Racing Board.

This bill will not affect this valuable contract and contains provisions to avoid double-charging. We believe that the principle of respecting and incentivising commercial solutions is an important one. The bill will therefore establish a process to obtain exemptions from the charges if new commercial deals can be struck in the future, as long as the return to New Zealand is as good as the payment of those charges. The bill also contains two measures to remove statutory restrictions that prevent the Racing Board from offering some of the same products as their offshore competitors. First, the bill will permit the Racing Board to continue to offer bets on the outcome of a race once that race has begun. This change will bring racing into line with sports where in-play betting is already permitted. Secondly, the Racing Board will be able to offer bets on a wider range of sports. At the moment the Racing Board may offer bets on sports only where the board has entered into an agreement with the governing national sporting organisation, or NSO. This can cause issues when there is no recognised NSO.

In these cases, the bill will allow the Racing Board to enter into a betting agreement with Sport New Zealand. Sport New Zealand will then distribute any betting commission payments for the benefit of sports organisations. The bill also presents an opportunity to update part of the Racing Act that is no longer fit for purpose. The Act contains a formula that sets out the payments the Racing Board must make to sports organisations from its sports betting turnover. Sports betting is one of the most dynamic parts of the wagering market, so setting this formula in primary legislation is too inflexible. The bill will instead allow for the formula to be set in regulations in the future. Overall, this bill supports the long-term viability of New Zealand racing and sports and will ensure that the offshore operators that enjoy profits from New Zealand betting pay their fair share. New Zealand racing has a very strong future ahead of it. We have a clean, green product based on excellence.

New Zealand racing represents the hours of work by volunteers and those involved in the industry, from drivers, trainers, owners, and breeders to those who actually bet on the product. We are fortunate to have a strong base to work from. The industry has long wanted this legislation, and it is now being delivered. We thank the industry for its patience during that time. But this is just one step in taking the industry forward. There are other things that can be done to build this industry so that it achieves its full potential.

Racing is part of the New Zealand story. It is part of our culture, our history, and our traditions. This is one way we can deliver some of that return back to that industry from the product that it delivers on a world stage. We now also have much more opportunity in that area to build a great industry that will deliver for all New Zealanders going forward, and we support this bill as a first step in that process. I commend this bill to the House.

I seek leave for the House to suspend for the extended sitting at the conclusion of the Brokering (Weapons and Related Items) Controls Bill or 10 p.m., whichever is earlier.

Leave is sought for that course of action. Is there any objection? There is no objection.

I think people from the racing industry will be watching the first reading of this piece of legislation, and it will be a bittersweet evening for them because they have been waiting for some time for this legislation. But I think the collective of the racing industry will be thanking God that this piece of legislation has found its way to this House altogether.

Just one question I would ask of the Minister is as to the select committee that he has chosen to send this piece of legislation to. Yes, this piece of legislation does involve the racing industry, but it really does go around to the administration of the revenue of the racing board and around racing and sporting codes. My understanding of that kind of legislation is that it usually goes to the Government Administration Committee, and I have to question why this is going to the Primary Production Committee. But I will come back to that at some stage later on.

There has been for 2 years now a degree of frustration in the racing industry because it has been waiting for this legislation to arrive. I do not want to put too much of the blame on the heels of the current Minister, the Hon David Bennett, because he has only just come on to it, and, to be fair, within months of him arriving this piece of legislation has arrived. But the industry has been waiting and waiting and waiting for this bill to make it to this House. The Minister referenced the working group report. I have got it in my hands here. It was delivered in October 2015.

This piece of legislation is absolutely vital to ensuring the strong future for the racing industry and sports codes that the Minister pointed out. But this legislation, if the Government gave it any priority, should have been through this House a lot earlier. Actually, if the Government had done its job properly, it would have been passed by now, giving the racing industry and the sporting codes the ability to get the revenue that this legislation promises to be able to get. The fact that it has taken so long for this piece of legislation to get here has not been lost on the racing industry. I know it is an industry that the current Government claims to be 100 percent behind most of the time, but when I am speaking to people in the industry—and in the sporting area—they are frustrated that this has not happened.

There are some concerns that we do have with the bill. There is quite a lot of regulation-making power within this bill. I will put the Minister out of his misery; we are going to support it, but we will use the select committee process to find out how exactly the Government and the racing board intend to use that regulation-making power. It does go to the day-to-day operation of the Racing Board—or the TAB as most people would know it, who might be sad and listening or watching tonight—and the kinds of products that it offers. That is one of the concerns that we have, as to what kinds of freedoms it might give the Racing Board or the TAB as to those powers.

I would like to pay tribute to the Racing Board under the leadership of Glenda Hughes and also John Allen, because they have kept the Labour Party right in touch during the whole process, before the working party started but also as the working party delivered its report, and through the very long and arduous process to get the legislation to this point today.

This legislation, as the Minister has said, will, hopefully, be able to get the revenue that the racing industry so desperately needs, and also the sporting industry. One question that we will have in the select committee is around the sporting codes that do not have a national body at the moment but might have sports betting being offered at the TAB as a result of this legislation. My discussions with the racing board after we got the first draft of this legislation were that if there was a sporting code that does not have a national body but there were bets on that code that would be offered at the TAB, then, hopefully, if they were looking to set up a national body, some of the money that came about from revenue from those bets could be put into a trust account to be able to assist that sporting code once it got up and running with a national body. If there were some smaller sports where lots of revenue came in through the TAB because of the bets that might be put on, I fear where that money would go. So that is one of the concerns that we have on this side of the House, which I think the select committee process will let us have a look at.

This piece of legislation, as the Minister said, will allow a ticket to be clipped of New Zealanders who are betting overseas, and will also charge a fee to overseas bookmakers who are taking bets on New Zealand - based events. They would essentially have to pay for the information that the Racing Board will offer them around odds, and also other information around races or sports events. The question that we had on this side of the House at the very outset of this process asks what kind of resource is going to be put into enforcement. That was one of the first concerns that I raised with the Racing Board when it came to meet us after this piece of legislation was introduced. I think the select committee process will be the place to do that.

But if there are sports bet operators overseas who flout the rules and still take bets on New Zealand races or sporting events and do not pay their fee that they should be under this legislation, my question to the Minister is: what kinds of powers will our Government have, will New Zealand have, to ensure that that revenue that should be coming to New Zealand actually gets to those racing codes, whether it be the trots, harness racing, thoroughbred, dogs, or one of the sporting codes that the revenue might be due to? How are we going to make sure that that money gets to those people so it is getting to the grassroots level? Enforcement, I think, is going to be one of the big issues that the select committee will look at.

I do not want to dwell too much longer because we are supporting this piece of legislation at first reading, but there are a number of issues, as I have set out. The Labour Party will be wanting answers from the Government to clarify its position that this piece of legislation will be effective. If it is and we do collect the kind of revenue that the Government says this piece of legislation can, then that will make a big difference to racing clubs around the country, to sporting clubs around the country, to make sure some of that revenue feeds down to the grassroots. That is what this should be.

The other sad thing about this legislation taking so long to get here—and this will be my final point—is that it has really stopped a big debate in the racing industry about where it should be heading, because of the fact that it has not had any certainty around guaranteed revenue in the industry. It has stopped conversations in small race clubs around the country that should have been had some time ago. I think that is sad because I think options that were available to some racing clubs around the country that owned courses that were difficult and expensive to maintain may now have gone because the revenue has not been collected. I think that is one of the very sad things that has happened as a result of this piece of legislation taking so long to get here.

It is a pleasure to take a call on the Racing Amendment Bill, or, as the industry knows it as, the race fields legislation. And, as the previous speaker, Kris Faafoi, said, it has been long-awaited. There are some very good reasons for it being long-awaited, because when you are trying to extract money out of foreign entities—it is an issue that needs some significant care taken of it. It is also an issue that is going to be significantly challenging for this country to extract and to make sure it is managed in a manner that benefits all. That is the reason for it taking so long.

I will get on, in a minute or two, to the reasons it is going to the Primary Production Committee, but, as I said, it is a long-awaited piece of legislation. It has got the potential to return about $40 million to the New Zealand industry, all going well. Having spent a bit of time with the Racing Board some 3 or 4 years ago on a business exchange, I got to understand—even better than I already did understand it, having been involved in the industry for longer than I care to mention—some of the challenges that the industry was facing.

There is some $300 million or $400 million—or a bit more than that, actually—bet offshore annually on horse races in other countries. That, of course, is a significant challenge for us because we—the industry and the Government—do not get the income from that. So that is the reason for this legislation.

As someone who enjoys the occasional bet, I am often reminded of a quote by Shakespeare, which went: “O, for a horse with wings!”. And, of course, it is quite appropriate, because you do just about need wings to win in this business.

The horse industry, in its broader sense, employs some 18,000 to 20,000 people and turns over in excess of $1.8 billion. It is a massive industry. It is bigger than racing; it is bigger than gambling. And I want to touch on that, because I think that is where this legislation plays a very important role in expanding the opportunity for the horse industry in New Zealand to grow, to breed a whole lot more horses, and to capitalise on opportunities that are opening up in the world markets right now, particularly as bits of China open up to this industry. We have an opportunity, if we can breed enough horses, to provide some into that market.

So what has happened in the New Zealand racing industry and thoroughbred breeding industry—in fact, the horse industry in New Zealand—over the last few years is that we have seen a dramatic drop-off in the number of horses bred in this country. It needs legislation like this to encourage that industry to pick up and to grow that breeding capacity. Of course, that industry supplies horses to our Olympic equestrian teams and it supplies horses to numerous sports throughout the country—all coming out of one or the other of those horse industries. Of course, it also provides gambling and betting opportunities for sport, which is a hugely growing part of the business.

So I think that the real key for me in this piece of legislation—not only will it strengthen the racing industry, but it has got the capacity to significantly strengthen the breeding industry behind that business, both trotting horses and thoroughbreds. I think it is very exciting, because we certainly need to get that industry turned round and growing. The industry has got enormous potential for New Zealand. We are one of the four leading breeders of horses and providers of horses in the world, and it is very important that we continue to do that. The other interesting thing about breeding horses is that it has a much lesser environmental impact on both land and the environment than many other forms of farming. So it is important that we encourage this and get the industry going strongly again.

The bill has the potential, as I just said, to benefit the New Zealand economy in a major way. And I think it is really quite exciting that we have finally got this bit of legislation in a form that I hope can be implemented. That is the reason for the large amount of regulation that may potentially be needed to implement this legislation once it goes through the House, as it is complicated and it will take some time to extract that money out of those countries and those entities that receive that betting money.

I too want to acknowledge John Allen and the Racing Board, which has put a lot of work into this over the years. They have put a lot of work into what is a testing business—trying to restructure an industry that needs to come into, I guess, the modern era. Whether we like it or not, we do not have to travel. We can easily travel miles and miles now to the local racecourse. Of course, when we were—or when I was young; I cannot say “when we”—there were many, many racecourses in New Zealand. In my own area there were some seven different racecourses that make up what is now the Racing at Awapuni, Otaki and Trentham Combined Enterprise. So there is some rationalisation that has taken place in some parts of the country, which has worked really well. In other parts of the country it has not happened, and it is necessary that it does.

So in closing—and I have got another thing or two I want to say after this—I want to finish with another quote from Winston Churchill that says: “When you’re on a great horse, you have the best seat you’ll ever have.” And I want to remind a few in this House that, of course, some of us have better seats than that, and Rangitīkei is one of those.

💬 Hon Jo Goodhew: Rangitata. Rangitata’s another one.

Rangitata, right. And the Rangitīkei, of course, is one of those. In fact, in the last 4 years, the Rangitīkei electorate has bred the winner of every major cup and race in New Zealand of every major jumping race in New Zealand. I cannot claim the same about the trotting industry, but we are very well-known for our race horses and our horse trainers. And, of course, just last week the eStar Winter Cup in Canterbury was won by another Rangitīkei horse.

So I think this is really quite exciting, not only for provincial New Zealand because, for those who have been lucky enough to have a horse good enough to run at Ellerslie and places like that—even to take one to Australia—it is very exciting. It is an industry that has got great potential for New Zealand.

I look forward to the progression of this bill through the House. I hope I am fortunate enough to be on the select committee that considers it in the next Parliament. I congratulate the Minister on his effort in getting this bit of legislation into the House, and I look forward to its progress. So thank you—very good.

Tēnā koe e Te Māngai o Te Whare. I have got to agree with the member from Rangitīkei, Ian McKelvie, because that is my electorate as well—Te Tai Hauāuru, it is called—and we do a lot of great things throughout the electorate. I agree that we breed some excellent racehorses, so I want to agree with the member.

I agree, also, with Kris Faafoi, the Labour spokesperson on racing, on this Racing Amendment Bill. It is a bit of a concern that it has taken almost 2 years from the report of the offshore racing and sports betting working group to get the legislation into the House. And so we have had up to 2 years of missed opportunities, really, and of implementing this piece of legislation.

I read through the bill and the different documentation, and one thing it did provoke me to think about was the harm caused by gambling. It does kind of raise the issue around what our responsibility is, if we are taking funds from gamblers overseas, in terms of any harm caused to them—or do we leave that issue to overseas agencies? I thought I would raise it here because I think, also, in agreement with Kris Faafoi, that the Government Administration Committee, which has had considerable experience with three gambling amendment bills this term, could be thinking not only about gambling and the mechanics of gambling but also the harm caused by gambling. I think—no disrespect to the members of the Primary Production Committee—that there are aspects of this bill that would have been well considered by the Government Administration Committee.

I think what this bill sets out to do is something that needs to be done. Both our racing industry and our sports throughout New Zealand are impacted negatively by not doing this. I think there is a lot to gain through having this legislation. I look forward to interested parties making submissions on all parts of this bill at select committee.

I would be very interested, because it is a really wide sector when you include all sports, particularly those that do not have national organisations to take care of issues like this and that will need to build their infrastructure to get to the stage whereby bets that are taken all over the world on their particular sporting events can be well represented in terms of the collection of those funds and how they are eventually distributed.

I think there is a huge potential for growth in those particular sports. I am sure there are lots and lots of different sports out there that people would love to bet on. I was at a Māori sports event a couple of weeks ago where they were playing ki-o-rahi. I was sitting in the House and I wondered whether anyone across the world might be interested in betting on that. I think that particular sport, a Māori sport, was spread throughout the world during World War II, by our soldiers who went into Europe. That game survived in places like France and Italy, and now it is having a resurgence. If people wanted to bet on that, I wonder how the infrastructure of ki-o-rahi in New Zealand might be affected, because it is very much on a regional basis around towns and communities and marae that that is organised.

I look forward to hearing people making submissions, groups making submissions, on how it is going to affect their particular sports. I will be encouraging people to make submissions on this bill. As we say, we are supporting this bill, so I do not want to take up any more of the House’s time, except to say that we support this bill. Kia ora.

It is actually a privilege to speak on this bill, and it will be the last contribution that I make in the House as well, as a member of Parliament. How fitting, given that the racing industry plays such a huge role in my history and in my upbringing. My grandfather Keith Barclay trained and drove racehorses in Gore, and my uncle Brent Barclay still trains and drives racehorses just out of Winton.

In recognition of the industry, the complexities, and, I think, the underrated nature of the sector, this bill provides an ability to correct an unfairness that has probably been in place for quite some time. I want to acknowledge the New Zealand Racing Board, the Minister for Racing, David Bennett, and former Minister for Racing Nathan Guy for the work they have done in bringing the sector together and developing this piece of legislation that aims at correcting an inequity around offshore betting.

When John Allen came and met with Barbara Kuriger and me, probably about 6 to 8 months ago, I had not quite appreciated the level of leakage that our sector experiences to offshore betting, particularly to Australia. Through the work that the Racing Board, under John Allen, and the board members have done, they have estimated that around $58 million of gross betting profit for a year goes overseas, from New Zealanders making bets with offshore bookmakers.

The sector is incredibly important to regional New Zealand. There would not be an electorate MP here with a provincial or a rural base who does not have a key aspect of their industry being the racing industry. I know from speaking to my own family, but also to other participants in the racing industry across my electorate, that this correction is something that they are very much in appreciation of.

I just wanted to acknowledge the hard work of all who have been involved. I do not think we can underestimate for one minute the level of complexity and competition—as you will know, Mr Speaker, from your former primary industry roles—that is held across that particular sector. With almost unanimous support, I suspect, from the sector itself for this bill to go through, it comes at quite a timely time. I just wanted to acknowledge the hard work of the Racing Board, the industry participants, the Minister, and the former Minister. It is great to be able to speak on the first reading of this bill.

Tēnā koe e Te Māngai. I rise to address the Racing Amendment Bill. The Green Party recognises there are benefits to the racing industry from this bill. We have seen estimates that this bill and the extension of a levy on betting agencies would raise around $1.6 billion annually after a period of time—[Interruption] Sorry, $16 million after a period of time. Thank you. The industry itself accounts for about $1.6 billion a year and 17,000 jobs. It would be a good bill if it doubled the industry size.

💬 Hon Amy Adams: And you guys want to be on the Treasury benches. That’s a worry.

Yeah, thank you. The legislation would support offshore operators paying their fair share for racing in New Zealand. We think it is a good thing that it extends oversight to offshore operators. We understand that they are largely the bigger betting agencies that account for most of the anticipated revenue, like William Hill and Ladbrokes and others. We also understand they are based primarily in the Northern Territory, in Australia, chasing a low tax regime. We recognise that the levy would apply only to bookies over $60,000 of revenue.

With all that, we think that there are some benefits for the racing industry from this bill. We are, however, concerned about two aspects. I might say, just by way of preface, that the Green Party is acutely aware of gambling harm. We are acutely aware of the number of problem gamblers in this country and of the good work undertaken by agencies like the Problem Gambling Foundation, the Salvation Army, and others.

The two aspects that we are particularly worried about have been highlighted in submissions by the Problem Gambling Foundation and by the Salvation Army. The first of these concerns live betting during racing and sports. Studies have shown that live betting can generate substantially higher forms of problem gambling compared with pre-race betting. That is because it is a form of continuous gambling that is characterised by a very short time between placing a bet and the outcome. It creates a cycle where people react to the emotions of placing bets, and we think that it creates problems in terms of people being able to consider adequately the impact of their action. This research, I think, has been well documented in the Problem Gambling Foundation’s submission.

The second aspect that concerns us is the proposal that this may be a way to extend gambling into other sports than are currently covered. We do not think that there are enough controls or that there has been enough discussion around the potential for the problems that that may cause. We contrast it with the controls over class 4 gambling—pokie machines in particular—where, at the community level, there is a sinking-lid policy.

To us, the problem with this bill is that it opens up these two areas to, potentially, a significant expansion of gambling. We are concerned that this is, essentially, almost a Trojan Horse. On the one hand, we are having a quite sensible introduction of levies on overseas betting agencies, and we have no problem with that. The problem is the other aspects of the bill that are included in this legislation. Because of our concerns in those two areas, because of the fact that this bill might usher in higher problems in gambling and an increase in gambling harm, the Green Party finds it impossible to support this bill. Therefore, we regret to say that we oppose this bill. Thank you.

I rise to be a breath of fresh air after the contribution made by the Greens. I have to say, it was a little bit of doom and gloom that might have made everybody feel a little bit depressed in the House and, certainly, back home. Sorry about that, Mr Coates, but, I have to say, you are on your own on that one.

Let me give you some positives in the racing industry, because it sounds not so positive when you listen to the Greens. The racing industry involves about 52,000-plus people every year. Now, a lot of those people are volunteers. Community groups use the racing industry to have their events, to house community engagements, etc. It employs over 17,000 people and contributes over $1.6 billion towards our economy. We have got over a thousand race meetings, with over a million people a year—families and communities—going along to those racing events, to be part of the community. I do not want to coin this phrase, because it is certainly not mine, but it is part of our culture: rugby, racing, and beer. I am not suggesting that is it for everybody, but I am telling you that for a lot of people, rugby, racing, and beer make up a lot big part of it.

I have to say that this industry is in crisis. This industry has been in crisis for 9 years, and I am not pointing the bone across the House at my dear friend Mr Bennett, because he has been in the job for only 3 months. You know that any opportunity I would possibly get to chastise him, I would certainly take, but today is not one of those opportunities.

What we do have to look at is the 9 long years that we have been waiting for real, substantial change in the racing industry, which—full stop—has not come. We have seen four Ministers for Racing in that time: John Carter, Craig Foss—albeit he was there for only 6 months, and he had his valedictory speech tonight—6 years with Nathan Guy at the helm, and now for the last 3 months we have Dave Bennett, who has been given a hospital pass, because nobody wants to be carrying this baby on the pre-penultimate day of the 51st Parliament, which is today. It is the pre-penultimate day. The biggest disgrace, I have to say, about Mr Bennett is that he did not fight hard enough to get this bill through this House under urgency, because this is absolutely what the industry needs.

If we go back to between 2005—

💬 Hon David Bennett: We can—we can. Do it tonight. Let’s do it tonight.

You bring it on. Mate, you know we want this bill through, because this is what the racing industry needs. It is only one of the things that this racing industry needs. It is absolutely in the weeds, and it is in the weeds because of the lack of any direction or drive or motivation from the Ministers whom we have had before this Minister, to do something about it. They have lain idle, sat on their hands—they have been asleep at the wheel.

Now it is time for change. This should be through in urgency. The last time that this country saw some real, substantial change was between 2005 and 2008. The Minister for Racing then was of course the Rt Hon Winston Peters, and do you know what? He did not say he was going to do it. He did not go around and boast that he was going to fix the industry. He did not make any mad claims that this is something that needs doing. He just got in there quietly, he tipped the industry upside down, and he created opportunities for what I would call—and many people around this country would call—the poster child for added-value exports.

When you talk about the $1.6 billion industry, the racing industry, with huge amounts of scope and opportunity to grow and develop it, all it needs is the right Government support to get in behind it. I can tell you right now, we will have this mess cleaned straight up after this election if we get the opportunity to be in power and to make those changes that are required. We have done it before, and the Rt Hon Winston Peters will make sure that we do it again.

The interesting thing that we have got is that this is not the only problem with the racing industry. There are a number of problems that need fixing, this being just one of them, and one that Mr Ian McKelvie has said is complicated. He tried to justify in the House just earlier why it has taken so long to actually get this piece of legislation in front of this House, like we are seeing here tonight. In fact, it has taken 9 years, despite having the offshore racing and sports betting working group, which is the only thing that Nathan Guy can take credit for doing in the 6 years of his leadership in this portfolio. Mr McKelvie said this: “It’s complicated when it comes to extracting money from overseas.”

Well, it is not complicated when you largely copy and paste legislation that they already have in place in Australia, and we, as the law-abiding, moralistic country that we are, are already paying levies to the Australian TABs under similar legislation. So how can he sit here in this House and justify the 9 years that it has taken for this legislation to get here, while they are sitting idle on their hands? In actual fact, they have already got it across the Tasman. We are already paying those fees.

When you talk about the Greens being worried about harm minimisation—of course, we have heard it from Labour as well. Harm minimisation is the latest buzzword, of course, because if you look at the harm of gambling, we are actually in a minimal state right now. Harm minimisation—we are declining the harm with regard to gambling. It has actually got infrastructure and wraparound services to ensure that we get it. This bill, however, enables more money to be put into the industry to create a better infrastructure of wraparound services for harm minimisation. So to use that as your argument to not support this bill is absolute lunacy, which we would expect, I dare have to say.

The $58 million that New Zealanders are currently spending online with our Australian brethren, within their racing organisations, is money and opportunity lost that New Zealand should be getting. We have over $300 million worth of offshore bets that we should actually be clipping the ticket on. The New Zealand Racing Board is in a particularly bad state. It needs a serious shake-up, and some work needs to be done there. Why it has taken this long to get this legislation here begs belief. We are saying right now that the Aussies really had this right a number of years ago. They approached New Zealand. We said: “That makes sense. We’ll absolutely ensure that we pay our fair share to your bookmakers and your online gamblers. We would just expect that to be reciprocated.” It does not take 9 years. There is no excuse for the time that it has taken to get there.

This industry is full of passionate people, from the horse trainers, the vets, those who get up at 5 o’clock in the morning to shovel a whole lot of you-know-what and to move it around—it is a passion for the industry. It is a lifestyle, and, in many cases, it is a lifestyle that goes generations deep. When we walked around the Karaka sales earlier on this year, the comment that I cannot lambast enough is that it is an industry that is in crisis. They feel like they are not being heard, and they feel like there is no solution coming forth. This is very, very late in the piece. Like I said, it should be under urgency. Without these poster-child industries in our country, which New Zealand First talks about—the poster child of added-value exports—we are seriously going to be in a dire situation.

It is very interesting to see the number of mares, the high-quality mares that even Mr McKelvie spoke about—we are one of the top five countries in the world that is renowned for racing, yet we are selling off so much of our quality bloodstock to keep the industry afloat in this country. Our mares, our fillies—they need to be retained in this country. It needs to be profitable. They need the support. New Zealand First is behind them. The Rt Hon Winston Peters has made it very, very clear in the past about what he will do, and we will make sure that that happens again come 23 September when we are putting together a Government.

To wrap things up, I cannot lambast that enough. I just want to let you know, with regard to the many families around New Zealand that are involved in racing, and those who are not necessarily involved in racing—but there is a resurgence in families going to the races on a Saturday afternoon or on a particular day for an event; Boxing Day races, and the like. My wife and I, and my family, we go along regularly to the races to participate. In fact, a few years ago we bought ourselves a racehorse, which was a great endless pit that we poured money into, but there is nothing quite like standing there in your box, watching your horse come thundering down the finish line in seventh position—and all that money you have invested. But, you know what, it is going to a good cause.

Just in finishing, another area that needs some attention is the ambiguity around the lack of direction that the IRD and Treasury have when it comes to assisting racing. It is very, very misleading. They have twisted some of these rules and regulations, which is making it hard for the racing industry to look at. These are some of the other issues, along with the minimum State money that needs to be implemented into the racing industry. This is a step in the right direction. It should be under urgency, and it should have been done in this term of the Government, along with a whole raft of other ideas that need to be implemented. Just see our New Zealand First racing policy to get some more ideas. You might want to check it out also, Minister. Thank you.

Well, Mr Mitchell, you got up and you talked about being a breath of fresh air and, for probably about the first 30 seconds of your of speech, I thought you were a breath of fresh air. And then you started breathing fire at Minister Bennett. Minister Bennett has been a good Minister. He has taken—

💬 Clayton Mitchell: No, I didn’t. That’s not true. That’s not true. I was giving him compliments. I was complimenting him.

Yes, you did. He has taken on this portfolio and he has really taken the bull by the horns—to use an expression—or the horse by the reins, and he is really making a difference to this industry.

Look, I also want to mention the Racing Board. It has made a huge effort in terms of working with all of the parties across this House to make sure that we all understand this piece of legislation and what is going on. There is a huge amount of leakage and it is a shame, because we have got a fantastic racing industry in this country. We have got a fantastic breeding industry, but the problem is, those horses will get sold overseas if we cannot actually bring the money into this country to give them the opportunity to race those horses.

And you were right, Mr Mitchell, about the rugby, racing, and beer, because I have got some really good studs in my electorate: Te Akau Stud, Breckon Farms, and Curraghmore, just to name a few. You know, it really is about rugby, racing, and beer, because I have got some good craft beer places that are just taking off as well, and we are the home of the Chiefs, so you really cannot beat that. That is total rugby, racing, and beer.

So look, I just want to commend the racing industry. It has put a lot of effort into its breeding, and I look forward to it doing really well. I had the opportunity, apart from horses, to go and have a look at the greyhounds recently as well, and they run pretty fast for little dogs. The other thing that I did while was I was there is that I took the opportunity to go and see where they are rehousing the greyhounds that are no longer useful for racing because they are not fast enough. I have to commend the racing industry and those who are re-homing those greyhounds, because they are doing some incredibly good work there in Levin.

I did want to mention the contribution by Barry Coates about the problem gambling thing. Look, we could strangle our own racing industry by talking about problem gambling, and, yes, for some people it is a problem, and I do not want to minimise it for those who have a gambling problem. But, having said that, people can go on the internet and gamble any time they like. The money can go overseas now, and the biggest problem is—the reason why we are enacting this legislation is so that we can bring some of that money back into the country. I have to say that our industries have been pretty good at supporting those with problem gambling as well.

So with that, that is a short contribution, but I look forward to this progressing through the House, and I stand here and proudly speak in support of this piece of legislation. Thank you.

I guess it is an honour to speak—it might be my last speech in this particular Parliament, and on a racing bill, which I guess, in the scheme of things, probably does not rate very highly in terms of the issues that New Zealand faces. I have been a Minister. I can say to the Minister in the seat there now, David Bennett, that he will be lucky if he makes it to the election in that position, because the industry has—and, I have to say, with the exception of Minister Guy—a reputation for getting rid of chairs of the board and of Ministers. It is a tough industry. What we did in Government, of course, was open the door for sports betting and work with the industry on new opportunities.

But it was clear at that time that without some fresh thinking, the industry was going to face continual decline. That is indeed what has happened. Labour supports this change, because it is just fair. It just means that we clip the ticket for what is a growing offshore betting element, and some of that money should stay here, because there are a lot of people across the racing industry who invest in the product to be bet on by you all—to be profited from by offshore bookmakers.

To come back to the core issue—and it was brought home to me when that international sporting team, the Parliamentary Rugby Team, did visit Palermo, which is probably one of the pre-eminent racecourses in South America, in Argentina. It was an impressive facility but it was vacant, like many, many racecourses in New Zealand. There were people there, but they were all underground, playing 4,000 poker machines that provided the revenue to keep the racing industry on top of the ground going. Now, that is not a sustainable model, and what we have in New Zealand is a similar situation, that the racing industry does have fewer Kiwis—and we go back to the “rugby, racing, and beer”, which was the old culture, one that is shifting, and racing is missing out.

I know that after I was moved on from my portfolio, another gentleman galloped in on his white horse and promised to save the industry. Mr Peters did indeed offer some good benefits—that is, he gave the industry a $35 million tax break. That was appreciated at the time, and a couple of other tweaks around breeding were appreciated by the racing industry. But it has not dealt with the core issue. Until the industry deals with that—and it is not easy—then it is going to continue to struggle. I thought I was making some progress, and, of course, they turned a tide, as they do, and any Minister who challenges the current paradigm, they turn. Anyone chairing the TAB or the Racing Board—as it was; it is all now one—if anyone dares to challenge the status quo, then they get dealt to. It is not the way that the industry has to approach the future. Disruption and challenges are occurring across all industries and all sporting activities in the world, and the racing industry has to find the core that attracts people to it so that it can retain them and their interest in it.

There are some amazing race meetings around the country at small racing clubs. There might be only one or two events a year, but lots of people go and have a great time and appreciate the efforts of all those people in the racing clubs to get those meetings together. But for a long time there has been a view in Wellington, and with the central bureaucracy, that you should close all of those down and centralise, and cut off the rural support base for the racing industry, because the core of the betting—the core of the gambling and attendances—is often around the cities, which is true and logical. But if you chop off that heritage component and the small racing clubs, does that help the industry grow? I say no.

So what they need to do is get into technology. I believe you have got to put cameras in the event, as happened with motor racing, as happens with cricket, and as happens with rugby even, when you have got a camera on the ref—although I do not know whether that adds anything or not in that particular case. But the point is that the public now demands virtual reality or to be part of the action. That is one avenue, I think, that the racing industry has toyed with. It does do some of this, but it has actually got to jump into it.

I will not give them too many more hints. I am sure there will be a consultant out there somewhere who might want to charge them for all that wisdom. It is a great industry, and I accept the wisdom of the member for Rangitīkei, who knows horses inside and out—he has ridden a few of them—that we do have a wonderful bloodstock industry in this country, but we must have more than just their objectives. We must have a public that wants to participate to grow the industry. Otherwise, the money that was given by Minister Peters and the efforts made by all the Ministers—including this extra revenue stream here—will amount to nowt over time.

I would like to see a racing industry because it is part of our heritage, and I would like to see it prosper, but without change, that is not going to happen. The Minister probably will not be in the job long enough to make any significant change, but I applaud his efforts to bring this legislation into the House finally. The industry has been waiting for it while Minister Guy sat on his hands. Minister Bennett has brought this into the House. Well done, and I am sure that we can pass this under the new Labour-led Government. We will happy to progress this, but we will be saying to the industry that there is more needed than this to give a prosperous long-term racing industry. Thank you.

💬 Eugenie Sage: Mr Speaker.

Sorry about that, Eugenie. It is great to speak on this bill. Also, I would have to say congratulations to the Hon David Bennett. I think he has done a good job. He has been in the job just a few days and he has got this bill before the House. He is a man of action, and I think the racing industry will be very pleased with the performance of the new Minister. So it is fantastic.

I grew up in mid-Canterbury, near Methven. There is a heck of a lot of harness racing down there; not much in the way of thoroughbreds, but there are some. But the racing industry, while it has been alluded to before as being part of our culture, which I think is very much the case, I think the fact is that life has moved on and there are a lot of disruptive technologies in the world, and, actually, the racing industry is not immune from that. Overseas betting is taking a lot of the much-needed revenue out of the racing industry, and this legislation is vital, to allow that revenue stream to be accessed by the industry to give it the much-needed ability to keep pace with its stakes. The stakes are the lifeblood of the racing industry. If it cannot get good returns for the owners, the trainers, and the drivers, then the bloodstock industry will not thrive.

Actually, the bloodstock industry is the future of the racing industry in New Zealand. It is a huge opportunity for us in exports. It is an industry that gives a heck of a lot of people a lot of pleasure, and I would have to say—growing up, as I said, around Methven—the racing-industry people are great people, salt of the earth people. They soon tell you if you are going wrong, and they are not shy to point out exactly where. So I think this bill is a great bill. I think this disruption—really, it is adapt or die as an industry. And I think this bill is going a long way to ensuring that the industry has the power to adapt. So it is with great pleasure that I commend this bill to the House. Thank you.

I am taking just a short call for the Green Party on the Racing Amendment Bill. Certainly, it makes a great deal of sense to ensure that some of the $300 million that New Zealanders spend each year through overseas bookmakers is directed back to assist the promotion of racing and sports in New Zealand. So that part of the bill is certainly something we can support. But we do, as Mr Coates alluded to, have difficulties with the working party on offshore racing and sports betting. It did not include anybody from the health sector or anyone who has an insight into the issues of gambling harm and problem gambling.

We think that that failure has led to the legislation not being based sufficiently on the recognition of problem gambling and gambling harm. This is because there are provisions in this bill that remove the prohibition on the TAB taking bets during a race. The research shows that, where you have got live betting happening, it is much more likely to be a prediction of problem gambling. And there is also a proposal in the bill to remove the restriction that requires the TAB to allow bets only on sports that are represented by national sports organisations. So that, potentially, could lead to betting being allowed on a greater range of sports, and it is also potentially going to allow betting on novelty events. All these provisions increase the opportunity for more gambling and, potentially, the risks for people who have issues with gambling.

We support the provisions around putting money back into the industry from those overseas bookmakers. The bookmakers will have to get permission from the Department of Internal Affairs. They have got to get the agreement of the national sporting organisation if they are going to use any of the information that those organisations provide. So there are some good things in the bill. Certainly some of the revenue that is generated can be used to minimise gambling harm, but it is on the loosening up of the ability to gamble that we hope there will be significant submissions in select committee and the ability to amend the bill to recognise the harm that gambling can do.