Coddington Deborah: Gambling Bill — Instruction to CommitteeCWH In Committee 
Coddington Deborah: Gambling Bill — Instruction to CommitteeCWH In Committee 
[Volume:611;Page:8463] 
DEBORAH CODDINGTON (ACT NZ) 
: 
 I rise on behalf of the ACT party to talk about Part 1 which deals with the purpose of the bill—one of the important areas that we have to debate. The purpose of this bill seems to be in total contradiction of what the bill actually will do and what the bill actually will promote. 
One of the purposes of this bill is to control the growth of gambling. There is a real anomaly here because if one looks at Internet gambling one finds—as Judith Collins has already pointed out—that research has shown that it is one of the most addictive forms of gambling yet it will now be promoted by a Government body. At the moment we can all access Internet gambling but it is run by offshore operators. Would it not be far better to have Internet gambling run by New Zealand - based operators so that we can have some sort of control over the age of people who access it instead of having it run by a Government monopoly? We all know why it will be run and promoted by the Lotteries Commission—the Government body. It is because the Government will be able to suck out of it as much tax as it can. We know why this Government likes to get lots and lots of nice tax from organisations: to buy votes. This is a heartless “tax and bribe” Government. 
Darren Hughes 
: Ha ha! 
DEBORAH CODDINGTON 
: I thank Labour members for that round of applause. They obviously agree over there. 
The purpose clause states that the bill will “prevent and minimise the harm caused by problem gambling”. Well I have already gone into that with Internet gambling. But problem gamblers will now be the problem if one likes of the Ministry of Health. What on earth have problem gamblers in this country done to deserve that? The Minister is absolutely hopeless with the portfolio she has right now and she will have problem gamblers added to that. Why does this Government not just say it does not care about problem gamblers instead of pretending that it cares about problem gamblers then handing them over to the Ministry of Health? So that is another part of this Part 1 that is totally demolished and down the gurgler. 
The purpose clause also states that this bill will “facilitate responsible gambling;”—well we know that is an oxymoron—and “ensure the integrity and fairness of games;”. What is fair about giving Sky City a monopoly on casinos? This bill will prohibit any new casinos. That is something that has been pushed by the Alliance from way back. Because this bill has taken so long to get to this stage Sky City—and I do not blame it; any good business would do the same in the circumstances—has been given the opportunity to get to the stage where it has the “Situations Full” sign up; it has got all that it wants in this country. So this bill will promote anti-competition. It would be far better for this Government to allow more casinos to be set up because if one has more casinos one has greater competition higher standards and better self-regulation. If one industry is in control and has a monopoly what is the point in having an industry body that is self-regulating? 
The other thing that I would like to go into is the gaming machines. One of the purposes of the bill is to “limit opportunities for crime or dishonesty associated with gambling;”. Gaming machines within casinos in this country amount to around 3000. Outside casinos there is something like 25000 gaming machines. The Government gets 4 percent plus GST of the total take of those gaming machines. 
If this Government were really serious about reducing the growth of problem gambling it would totally ban gambling. But what we see once more is hypocritical legislation just like the smoke-free environments legislation. This Government will not stop being so hypocritical and ban gambling.