Mitchell Clayton: Gambling Amendment Bill (No 2) — Third ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeMitchell Clayton: Gambling Amendment Bill (No 2) — Third Reading[Sitting date: 19 February 2015. Volume:703;Page:1808. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]CLAYTON MITCHELL (NZ First):I rise on behalf of New Zealand First. It is great to see the time—I am actually going to squeeze in my presentation today which I am very excited about all the more so because I have put so much time into this so I am pleased that I get to do it in one go.The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Trevor Mallard): Peak listening time too.CLAYTON MITCHELL: Peak listening time—hello viewers back home.I rise on behalf of New Zealand First for the third and final reading of the Gambling Amendment Bill (No 2) which is a large multifaceted and inflexible piece of legislation that has been around for debate since 2007. New Zealand First opposes this legislation as it forms part of an overall perfect storm for small class 4 gaming operators and it will ultimately go towards creating a monopoly for the large casinos around New Zealand such as Skycity Casino. You can see the National Government members squirm every time Skycity Casino is brought up as so much legislation seems to be directed at looking after this multimillion-dollar gambling corporation whether it be with zero-hour work contracts which 66 percent of their staff are employed under sweet convention centre deals with consents for 500 extra gaming machines being given and of course who can forget the images of the pre-election fund-raiser at Skycity Casino where contributors paid $15000 per ticket to attend the event? This definitely raises questions for New Zealand.I would like to put it in the strongest of terms that New Zealand First does not condone excessive gambling or in any way suggest that gambling should be taken up recreationally. New Zealand First supports sensible legislation that will further minimise harm to problem gamblers and give better support and help to those gamblers who need help or ask for support.It is important to point out that New Zealand is in a harm-minimisation period particularly when you compare the statistics from 2002 with now. In fact the state of the nation report that was released last Tuesday by the Salvation Army’s social policy and parliamentary unit says that pokie machine numbers have sunk to a 14-year low dropping from 27000 machines to fewer than 1700 machines today. And unsurprisingly this decline in gaming machine numbers has translated into declining losses by gamblers. In normal terms this is 2.4 percent less than in the previous year and 5 percent lower than in 2010.Unfortunately this is good news only on one hand as for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Although class 4 gaming spending is on the decline other forms of gambling are on the incline and what is of particular interest and worry is the steady increase of online gambling which is very difficult to legislate against as it is established offshore and outside our legislative jurisdiction. It is like the Alcohol Advisory Council advertisement—it is not what we are drinking; it is how we are drinking. The same thing applies to those people with gambling addictions—it is not that they are gambling; it is how they are gambling. The only difference is that there is far more help available for those people with drinking problems than there is for those people with gambling problems.I am talking about the gambling levy that is collected from all legitimate gambling outlets including Lotto Keno casinos pokies horse racing and sports betting. I am talking about the fact that a large amount of this collected money is not being put towards assisting those people suffering from gambling addiction.To put that statement into context the latest Ministry of Health Preventing and Minimising Gambling Harm report clearly outlines this problem. It says that $6.8 million is being collected and put aside for public health initiatives of which $4.7 million is being spent on primary prevention. When those experiencing harm from gambling are identifying themselves the access and availability to support is found lacking. The Government needs to be seriously looking at the allocation of funds and consider increasing support to front-line service providers. We must back up public campaigns with the support we profess is available and is not.There was an article released in the Southland Times in March 2014 outlining this problem with the headline “Gambling addiction services lacking”. It goes on to say: “Accessing pokie machines in Central Otago and Queenstown is easy—finding help when gambling becomes a problem is not”. It went on further to say that “Counsellors say a lack of services for problem gamblers and people who need addiction-related help in Queenstown Lakes and Central Otago is ‘outrageous’.”This is not an issue of how much money public health is collecting for problem gambling; it is about how the money is being spent. More needs to be done for the people who need it the most and the latest report also outlines the steady decline in the numbers of people using the Gambling Helpline. This service has now amalgamated with Lifeline Aotearoa because of the lack of requirement. However perhaps the $1 million that it cost to run this service could be put towards rehabilitating those people seeking help.There is not a person among us who would not agree that gambling addiction is an insidious sickness one that has the destructive power to destroy lives and families. Currently in New Zealand we have around 0.03 percent of our people suffering from gambling addiction which is on the decline. I am concerned that the legislation that is being put forward today combined with the legislation that was supported in the House last December will create a perfect storm and become the death knell for class 4 gambling or pokies as we know them.I can hear some of the members over there cheering gleefully with regard to my last comment but it does come with a warning and that warning is that the increase in harm minimisation initiatives put forward in this bill and the last one will be the death knell for community funding from grant applications. Applying for financial support for societies and foundations for sports clubs surf clubs community centres arts and culture groups schools hospitals and emergency service providers will vanish like magic under these proposed cumulative conditions. We are not talking here about tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of dollars and we are not even talking about tens of millions of dollars. We are talking about $300 million of community funding that is being put at risk. That will be taken away from our community groups which so heavily rely on that funding to survive. Is this Government in a financial position to be able to make up that funding shortfall in our communities? I would suggest not.Legislation has been passed—despite strong opposition from New Zealand First—that could force small businesses to introduce real-time player tracking technology and facial recognition software to reduce gambling harm. This is combined with new legislation being put forward in the bill currently before the House today allowing problem gamblers who have excluded themselves from licensed premises to go back on to the premises providing that they do not enter the gambling room. What? That is ridiculous. Talk about being led into temptation—Matthew 6:13.The excessive costs associated with upgrading gaming room technology and extra security costs required to manage gaming areas will force many small businesses to close their operation which will have a catastrophic effect on money not being made available for the community by way of grant applications. Potential harm is around us wherever we go. Whether we are crossing the road eating fast foods climbing trees or walking down the beach we need to be careful and conscious of harm and we need to do what we can as individuals and as a society to mitigate as much risk as feasibly possible.However I along with so many other New Zealanders feel concerned about the nanny State that New Zealand is finding itself rapidly becoming. We need to be doing far more to offer support and help for people who need it but it does not need to be at the expense of the community and it certainly should not involve creating more wealth for the likes of the large casino corporations who will be the big winners under this latest piece of legislation. Thank you.