Racing Industry Bill

We now come to the debate on Part 3—clauses 45 to 63 and Schedules 3 and 4.

Thank you. It’s nice that the Minister of Racing is in the chair, and I acknowledge him.

So the issue around new clause 46A, the selection panel which will be established by the Minister for the purpose of making recommendations to the Minister relating to the initial appointment of members to the governing body of the TAB—this is obviously something that was changed in the select committee stage and is obviously a new part of the bill. Having been part of the Transport and Infrastructure Committee, there was a strong desire that the selection panel that’s convened to do a recommendation of appointment of board members be one that is grounded with professional expertise, and with the ability and capability of identifying appropriate people and of selecting and making good recommendations around how a board such as the TAB should be established and should be run with the requisite skills. Could I just ask of the Minister, does he hold the view that that selection panel is most likely to be a professional human resources firm that is skilled in doing these types of board appointments, and if that’s his understanding of that appointment process?

The reality is that we tried this, as close as we could, following the Messara report and verbal advice from Messara himself, and going back to Thaddeus McCarthy’s views all the way back to December 1970, which is a long, long time ago. We’ve tried to look at ensuring that we just didn’t get some appointment by way of being shoulder-tapped, whether there was excellency within that person’s skills or not. So we looked to try and have a committee criteria that would select a degree of, not just familiarity, but a degree of excellency of understanding and, dare I say it, business acumen to take the committee and the board forward in the future.

It was always very difficult because you’ve always got the problem where the Minister would be involved, and—without pointing any fingers—over a long period of time, it is very clear that racing Minister after racing Minister thought that this was a sort of boutique operation, which required them to turn up to the odd racecourse when they felt like it, and without owning regard to the health and the wealth and the substance of the industry. That’s why we’ve taken so long to begin to turn this industry back to a destiny which is far more profitable and far more substantial for this country’s GDP and, dare I say it, tens of thousands of jobs and export earnings that we have hitherto.

So the idea—and the member has rightly pointed to it—was to get a selection process to eliminate chaff and to get excellence, and I hope we get there.

Thank you, Minister. It’s good to know that we’re going to get the right skills, and that involves making sure we’ve got the right selection panel to make sure they can identify the right skills.

Just related to that—and Mr McKelvie made a comment earlier—the process for appointment to the TAB is one of the crucial next steps. How long does the Minister think it’ll take before those appointment processes occur, and therefore the need for the Racing Industry Transition Agency (RITA) board to be disestablished? I know the Minister has put up a Supplementary Order Paper to carry it forward during the transition stage, but does he have a view on how long it would take to put in place these new governance arrangements and, therefore, see the disestablishment of the RITA board?

I think, to answer the member’s question exactly, the reason why the Racing Industry Transition Agency (RITA) board has had its time, or tenancy or term, extended is because of COVID-19 and the shutdown of the industry, and there was no desire on the part of any of the RITA board members to go on any longer—they thought they’d done their job. So I’m glad that the House has agreed that a further year is probably enough.

As to when those decisions are made, I can’t say, because it doesn’t lie within my provenance as a Minister. They’ve got to make them. We took the submitters’ view that we should listen to the codes, and the codes have put their best advice forward. So it’s over, now, for the industry to work that out, not me, because for me to do that would be the very level of oppression that all the members of the Transport and Infrastructure Committee thought wasn’t a good idea. Now, surely you’re not asking me to interpose myself now to make that decision, having reformed the operation for the first time for a long time.

The question was put that the amendments set out on Supplementary Order Paper 516 in the name of the Rt Hon Winston Peters to Part 3 be agreed to.

Amendments agreed to.

Part 3 as amended agreed to.

Part 4 Betting and TAB venues

The question was put that the amendments set out on Supplementary Order Paper 516 in the name of the Rt Hon Winston Peters to Part 4 be agreed to.

Amendments agreed to.

Part 4 as amended agreed to.

Part 5 Offshore betting charges and other matters

The question was put that the amendments set out on Supplementary Order Paper 516 in the name of the Rt Hon Winston Peters to Part 5 be agreed to.

Amendments agreed to.

Part 5 as amended agreed to.

Schedule 1

The question was put that the amendments set out on Supplementary Order Paper 516 in the name of the Rt Hon Winston Peters to Schedule 1 be agreed to.

Amendments agreed to.

Schedule 1 as amended agreed to.

Schedule 2

The question was put that the amendment set out on Supplementary Order Paper 516 in the name of the Rt Hon Winston Peters to Schedule 2 be agreed to.

Amendment agreed to.

Schedule 2 as amended agreed to.

Schedule 3 agreed to.

Schedule 4

The question was put that the amendment set out on Supplementary Order Paper 516 in the name of the Rt Hon Winston Peters to Schedule 4 be agreed to.

Amendment agreed to.

Schedule 4 as amended agreed to.

Schedule 5

The question was put that the amendments set out on Supplementary Order Paper 516 in the name of the Rt Hon Winston Peters to Schedule 5 be agreed to.

Amendments agreed to.

Schedule 5 as amended agreed to.

Clause 1 agreed to.

Clause 2

The question was put that the amendment set out on Supplementary Order Paper 516 in the name of the Rt Hon Winston Peters to clause 2 be agreed to.

Amendment agreed to.

Clause 2 as amended agreed to.

House resumed.

The Chairperson reported the Racing Industry Bill with amendment.

Report adopted.

Third Reading