Racing Industry Bill

I move, That the Racing Industry Bill be now read a third time.

When this Government introduced this bill, we urged everybody in the industry to make submissions and said that if they did, we would seriously listen to them. As a result, we have an excellent piece of legislation, and for that reason we should like to thank the following people and the organisations who have been instrumental in the development and passage of this bill. First of all, the Transport and Infrastructure Committee for its time and effort in taking the time to listen to submissions and the thoughtful way in which it approached the challenges it was presented with. Can I just say that it’s quite amazing to see a committee that actually decides that they’ll put partisan preferences and prejudices aside and make sure that they work with a whole industry right around the country to ensure that it worked. That’s the way that Parliament should operate. So, again, thank you to those members of the committee.

The 900-plus submitters that considered and then, subsequently, contributed to the strengthening of the bill have to be thanked as well. Those officials who provided advice throughout its development, we wish to thank them, and then RITA—the Racing Industry Transition Agency—for its work in guiding the development of this bill and for ensuring the industry is ready for such dramatic change.

We should also note our appreciation for the report written by Mr John Messara on the state of the New Zealand racing industry and, dare I say it, we could probably thank Thaddeus McCarthy. Justice Thaddeus McCarthy, way back in 1970, presented a report which got met with an ocean of parochialism, and thereafter not much happened to help the industry along. One could react with optimism or one could react with despair with respect to the parlous health of our racing industry that he identified. When John Messara made his report, it was actually sad to think that after all those decades of a similar report way back in 1970, nothing had been done. So one could react with despair or one could react with optimism that the Messara review established a pathway to save racing and allow it to reach its full potential, and the Government chose the latter. This bill is that catalyst for a better future for racing in New Zealand.

This bill empowers the industry to shape its own destiny. The TAB—that’s TAB NZ—will be the sole betting operator for racing and sports. The three racing codes will have greater responsibility for future growth of their respective areas. Racing New Zealand will be a forum for collaboration on behalf of the codes and other industry organisations, and an updated integrity system will be implemented by the new Racing Integrity Board—that’s the RIB—including responsibility for animal welfare but also, with respect to animal welfare, with the money going in every year to make racing and racing surfaces and the circumstances of racing safer and safer.

Then, the vexed issue of racetrack consolidation has a new process to follow, which gives due consideration for smaller venues and community interests. This bill enables the codes to reach agreements with offshore providers, allowing the use of their betting information, and, last, along with agreements with TAB NZ, the codes are now in a position to maximise the value of intellectual property.

The select committee work on this debate illustrates which members of Parliament, dare I say it, have a genuine knowledge of and interest in racing. Not all of us, but there’s some of us across the political divide who do have a genuine interest in and a love of racing, and share that, down through the millennium, with an association with horses. There’s something special about it, and I do admire those members who grasp it and those who just think when they go to the racecourse on a day when everybody is in their finery that somehow everything’s fantastic.

We understand what it’s like at 4 o’clock in the morning with a shovel, shovel-ready to make an industry work, and we also understand the tens of thousands of young men and women who just want a job working with horses. You can offer them everything else and every alternative, but that’s what they want—just to work with horses.

Those members who are generally from provincial areas understand and have a rapport with local clubs or have past business experience, and they all understand the contribution racing brings. Other members may not be, as I said, so personally invested in racing, but hold genuine views about small communities. Can we say the bill has never been designed to threaten their interests. It’s designed to protect what we have and to stop a spiral of decline, as well as creating options for a better future.

To all of those members who have been both recognised and acknowledged today and to those members who recognised and understood the submissions and who helped develop the bill, let us thank you for your contribution. You have lent us a hand to develop a seriously good piece of legislation.

This bill has arrived just in the nick of time. COVID-19 presented a seriously existential challenge to racing. Of course racing was in big trouble a long time before we ever saw COVID-19, and I must recognise, though, that the racing industry and RITA need to be acknowledged and thanked for their exemplary response, somewhat helped by the Government’s rescue package. Now, with the passage of this bill, the racing industry has every opportunity to be successful and grow this industry for the benefit of our regions, our communities, and our economy.

This was not going to be part of my speech, but I want to say this: we need to get people involved in racing to actually understand that it’s entertainment and it’s a business and that all the standards can be maintained, and when we do that in New Zealand—break the mould, so to speak—we’ll start to achieve the kind of performance you see, say, in Ireland, where the thoroughbred industry is worth about $3.2 billion. We’ve been sitting on $1.6 billion for a long, long time. We’ve got to turn that around and also, at the same time, turn our export futures around as well.

Having said that, it was so exciting to see the other day, in Seoul, a recent export package coming out of New Zealand of three horses that were in this one big race in Seoul in South Korea. One horse came first, the second horse—obviously—came second, and the fifth horse was also a New Zealand horse, and it’s also generated a terrible lot of excitement in South Korea about where these horses came from. What does it mean? Well, it means that if we’re going to come back from the COVID-19 devastation economically, we’ve got to take every export opportunity that we can, and the good news is that just overnight, we learnt how exciting that was, alongside, of course, the Lindsay family’s magnificent victory in the UK the other day. It’s so exciting to see a horse from this country do the unthinkable and beat the best in Britain.

Now, having said that, this bill has been a triumph for the way a select committee should work. It’s been a triumph for common sense and a triumph of reason. Therefore, I commend the bill to the House.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. There’s an old saying in racing, you know, that the only person making money at the races is the bloke following the horse with the shovel. The Minister just referred to that a minute ago and, actually, that’s probably true. But there’s also, when you think about life in my business that I came from to come to this place, the dog always followed the horse so the horse came first. That’s why this bill is framed in the manner it is, because the dog always does follow the horse in history, really.

But it’s a great pleasure to stand here and speak at the third reading of what’s, for the racing industry, the long awaited Racing Industry Bill, the second of the bills brought about to reform the governance, the overseas gaming operations, the ability of the TAB to operate in New Zealand, with the Racing Integrity Board and the three codes in New Zealand—thoroughbred, harness, and the greyhounds.

It comes through the House at a time when the industry is probably facing the greatest crisis in its history. Some of that crisis is brought about by the fact that for three months there was no work, no income, and many of the people in the industry had nothing to do. So an extraordinary time which put huge challenges on the industry and certainly put the industry, I guess, to the point of being basically in crisis. That crisis is not over. Hopefully, as a result of this bill, the industry will get itself back on its feet and get itself moving quickly, because there’s some urgency about the fact that it needs to get itself going and get going very quickly.

I want to commend the Minister for bringing these reforms to the House. As he said himself, there are a few of us that are passionate about racing. It’s a very, very old industry, of course, and I suppose a very, very old sport. In my part of the world the first races were held in the very early 1860s in New Zealand, and no doubt they’d been racing before that, but that was certainly the first records of racing in that part of the world.

I just want to talk about one or two things aside from the racing bill, because getting the racing industry back on its feet is very important. And one of the challenges that the industry’s got right now is around the sales process, because if we don’t have a strong horse breeding industry, we don’t have a racing industry, we don’t have an export industry, and it’s all hugely important to New Zealand.

It’s very important for our thoroughbred industry particularly—certainly, our harness horses as well—that we end up with a strong sales process. Those sales historically take place in January and February, and if we don’t get our borders secure and our country back operating by then, that industry is going to battle. And the reason they’re going to battle is because it’s all very well to go online, but for anyone who understands animals it’s very difficult to look at an animal online and think you’ve got what you’ve got coming. It would be a little bit like finding your partner online, I suppose. People do that these days, but I don’t know whether I would trust it. So that’s one of the challenges we’ve got.

The next challenge that the industry’s got to face, and face quickly, is the TAB and getting the TAB operating in a manner that we need to get it operating in New Zealand, and make it competitive internationally. The reason it’s got to be competitive internationally is because this is a huge international industry, the gaming industry. And for New Zealand to operate successfully, we have to attract overseas investment into New Zealand in the form of gaming, because we have a product that’s second to none in the world if we can get it right, and the world will support our product if we get it right, and that’s a critical thing about it.

To that extent the development of our tracks and the development of our racecourses and, as the Minister himself put it, the finery of racing are hugely important, because we’ve got to appeal to an international market. We’ve got to make this thing work. I think this bill and the work that’s been done in the last, I guess, six or eight months, certainly will help that, and the industry, I think, will take great heart from it. So it’s important that we get a TAB board appointed that works for the industry and works for New Zealand.

Racing New Zealand has been set up as part of this bill as well. Now, there’s been a Racing New Zealand, in effect, in the past. It was called, ironically, the RIB. And of course, we’ve now got an RIB in this bill, which is a different set-up altogether. This one is the Racing Integrity Board, which controls the integrity, the welfare of both gamblers and horses, and ensures that the industry has the integrity that can then be marketed internationally. So that’s very important.

But getting back to Racing New Zealand, it’s important that Racing New Zealand is established, set up, and operates from a unanimous and united perspective. And it’s very important, in my view, that those three industry bodies act collectively when they approach the Minister for anything they require and that they act collectively in their approach to the industry, because they’ll be much better off if they can do that, and I think they will have a much greater influence in the future of their industry if they can do that.

The other thing I want to talk about is the clauses in the bill, which, effectively, put some tension around the ownership of property that’s no longer being used for the racing industry. I think it’s important that we retain that tension—and the bill does retain that tension—so that there is a tension for racing clubs to act one way or another to resolve the property issues that have dogged the industry for, well, at least 50 years. I think the intention of the Transport and Infrastructure Committee and the intention of the bill is to put a tension on those clubs that are no longer racing to do something with their asset.

Now, our intention, I think, is that those assets are retained in the communities, and by that we mean a broader community—probably regionally—and that they’re retained for racing where possible or where practical. It’s not essential, however, and I think in some cases communities have a great interest in those assets and those assets should be used for the betterment of those communities. I think that’s the intention of the bill. If you look at the history of racing, almost all of the clubs and properties that have been rationalised have been centralised into other racing properties. So that’s practically happened in the industry, but it needs to continue to happen because of the great need to update, as I said earlier, those facilities and get those things working. So that was our intention around the clauses that dealt with racing clubs and their properties.

I don’t think I’ve got much more to add to that. I think it’s been a very good process. Yes, I do have a couple more things I want to add. I just wanted to acknowledge John Messara, because I think he came to New Zealand and did this work for nothing, and he did it out of the love of racing. Racing’s not a typical business. It’s a little different than the normal kind of business, and that’s one of the challenges it has, of course. So we’ve got to put that tension back into it as well. You’ll never turn it into a real business, but, none the less, gaming is a huge international business and it’s important that it’s done properly. So I think the work that John Messara did for us, whilst it created a few problems around some of the property issues for the select committee and for those of us in the industry, and certainly from a submission perspective—he did a great job for racing in New Zealand.

I think the other thing that really made a difference to this bill was the very large number of people in the industry who supported through submissions and, I guess, the encouragement of both the Minister and the select committee to get things right. I hate to say it, but this will probably be the best of the legislation that this Government passes. Thank you.

As peace and tranquillity breaks out across the House, I rise to commend this bill to the House. I sat in on a couple of the Transport and Infrastructure Committee hearings for this bill, and a couple of things were evident to me. The first was that this is an issue in an industry, the problems within which can no longer be kicked down the road; that it is absolutely imperative that appropriate changes are made to give this industry a sustainable future.

My electorate of Mt Roskill on the Auckland isthmus is actually surrounded by three different courses, between Ellerslie, Avondale, and Alexandra Park, covering both trots and gallops. Each of those courses is in a very different state, and each club is in a very different state. We heard from submitters not necessarily uniform views about what the future of the industry should be, but a clear recognition that something should change.

So I commend the Minister for taking up the mantle on this, for leading a good process which started off with the Messara report and substantial engagement across the industry. I also commend the Transport and Infrastructure Committee, because there were some really gnarly issues within this, none the least of which was the issue around property and around the fact that racing clubs, even if they’re not currently in a particularly viable financial state, are an important part of the social fabric of their communities. So the changes made by the select committee, which put a structured set of considerations around community needs and aspirations, I think will give some comfort to those organisations that we’ll have good processes that support the sustainability of the industry while also hearing about the needs of communities that have built up around clubs over many generations.

This is an excellent piece of legislation. It’s good that there’s widespread support, and it’s a strong indication that this is a Government which doesn’t kick issues down the road. We pick them up, we deal with them, and we work with our communities to make this a better place for everyone. I commend the bill to the House.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. It is a pleasure to be talking on this racing bill for the final time. I don’t normally sit on the Transport and Infrastructure Committee, but I asked to go on it because I was lucky enough to be brought up in a family where my father and mother were extensively involved in racing. And for me, even as a child, I used to go to race meetings with my father and used to look after the horses, particularly the weanlings, and teach them how to lead and all those sort of things when they were still on their mothers. So to me, racing is a deeply personal issue, but the amazing thing watching over the many years is how the racing industry has gone into significant decline.

It’s a shame, because it is a wonderful industry. I was just down at Byerley Park in Karaka recently, in fact, the weekend before last. The people down there—and the Minister referred to this, the 4 a.m. start. The people down there, there were the trainers, the jockeys, the owners, there were all support people that look after the horses, the stable hands, but even the people just on the stopwatches, and you realise what a diverse industry it is. There’s one common thing that everyone has when they go to those early morning sessions, and I know my colleague Ian McKelvie and the Minister would have no doubt experienced this. There’s a camaraderie, particularly at dawn, watching horses going around the track. It’s deeply felt, and I know it’ll be no different with the greyhound industry as well and the trotting industry.

It is a great industry because the people who are associated with it are not necessarily all smart bankers and people who are highly skilled in many things; it actually draws wonderful people from a wide breadth of backgrounds, and I think that’s what makes up the racing industry. That’s why it is so important to New Zealand that we make sure that it retains and is sustainable going into the future, because, for some people, that is perhaps one of the only jobs that they are going to be able to do and do well. And I think recognising that and the people that are drawn to it is absolutely essential for New Zealand, and in a wonderful way, in terms of just trying to help many people in New Zealand.

So the bill that we’ve worked on, there were concerns with the bill when it was introduced. But I’m very grateful to the members of the committee and also to the Minister for working collegiately so we’ve now ended up with a bill which I think will hold the industry in a much better position going forward. Obviously, the changes around the governance arrangements of the TAB, being clear about its objectives, making sure it’s accountable to the industry, is one area. There is the formation of Racing New Zealand, which is an entity to represent the combined interests of greyhound racing, thoroughbred racing, and also trotting. Also, there is a lot more clarity around the judicial aspects of it, making sure the safety of horses is protected, and all those different aspects that have come together in this bill, I think, are excellent. Also, I think the vexed question around the intellectual property and the recognition that it is owned by all the codes and it doesn’t actually belong in one particularly entity, as it was originally proposed. I think that, as a package, provides a sort of a structural framework for the industry to be able to face a future with a certain amount of confidence.

I think we should acknowledge the 900 submitters. I think the most telling thing was the second submission we heard, actually, which was a combined submission from the thoroughbred industry, the trotting industry, the greyhound industry. The three chairs came together and made a very powerful submission to the select committee, and it was good to see that unified submission. And it was clear what the industry was asking for. It was clear, and I’m so glad the select committee responded to that challenge.

I think it’s also appropriate to acknowledge the Department of Internal Affairs officials. We’ve had long and difficult conversations, but we’ve hammered out a bill, which I think is a good bill, and I do want to acknowledge their input. It’s good to be challenged all the way through, and they certainly did that. The influence of John Messara, he was the last submitter—very powerful submission, too—and his intellect in terms of the racing industry, his insights, were very, very useful and actually helped clarify some of the aspects that we were still dealing with towards the end of this select committee process. I just hope that Mr Messara will have the opportunity to have a further involvement in the industry. I totally agree with my colleague Ian McKelvie, whilst we have got a structure now that is appropriate, the first thing that’s most important is to make sure we get the right people because if you get the right people, any structure will work. So that is why the selection process is absolutely fundamental, that we get the right mix of skills in the right places.

But the second big challenge for the industry going forward is the one around the future arrangements of the TAB and I just want to put it on record that if the TAB is to negotiate an arrangement with an international player who will be very skilled in betting and wagering, we need to make sure that we get the world’s best skills to help in that negotiation and not do what we normally do in New Zealand, which is rely on one or two people who think they know a lot. But we need wonderful skills around the negotiating table to make sure we get the best deal, because what we don’t want to be is back here in Parliament in seven years’ time with the industry back where it is right now, which is really in a difficult situation.

Finally, I just want to dedicate my interest to my father, Phil Bayly, who had a very extensive involvement in racing as some people have done. I’ve been to many racecourses, he had so much luck: second in the Melbourne Cup, two fifths in the Melbourne Cup, Auckland Cup, Sydney Cup. He won 14 Group One races. And I know if he was alive today, he’d be proud.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I’m delighted to actually take a call here in this third reading of the Racing Industry Bill, and I congratulate the Minister for Racing on this bill, for an industry that many people might be a bit surprised that I’m actually quite passionate about. I grew up in the heart of the harness racing area of Canterbury, in Templeton, and went to school with many of the industry leaders or names that people will know, and so spent many of my weekends around stables and going to courses. I really know the industry and have followed it inside out for a long time. I was fortunate enough to sit on the Transport and Infrastructure Committee once during that, and found that absolutely fascinating, and this bill is really timely for an industry that I’m delighted it will actually give some security to. So it has been said before me. I’m really delighted in this bill, and I commend this to the House.

I raise a point of order, Madam Speaker. I think Mr McKelvie wants to sing “Camptown Races” by way of a waiata for the end of this bill.

Bill read a third time.