Mitchell Clayton: Gambling Amendment Bill (No 2) — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeMitchell Clayton: Gambling Amendment Bill (No 2) — In Committee[Sitting date: 11 February 2015. Volume:703;Page:1513. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]CLAYTON MITCHELL (NZ First):Thank you Mr Chair for my third rise. Listening to the Greens member Denise Roche speak earlier I sat back and I listened to the whole of New Zealand just sigh with disappointment that we are talking about this “harm minimisation” and the fact that they use those words and that this “dangerous product” that we are using needs to be actioned in such a way that we need to take away people’s choice—that we need to take away people’s personal responsibility to be able to decide for themselves what needs to be fixed in their lives and then we need to make sure that we actually fix that problem. I mean when we start hearing words like this we are going to be fencing our whole ocean off. We are going to start putting doilies and soft cushions on everything that might have a sharp edge and we will cut down our trees at 2 metres so that kids cannot climb trees fall out and break their arm and learn how to fall properly.The point being that there is only so much we can do. We are not condoning gambling. We are not saying that this is the thing that is going to make your life better. We are not suggesting that at all. But we should not be here to restrict people’s choice—their personal choice—to be able to go there and put some money in the gaming machine and sit back and relax. I get back to the good things that this is doing for our society. It is actually putting money back into our communities—[Interruption] Money that we otherwise would not have Denise Roche. We would not have our sporting groups. We would not have our culture groups. We would not have the support that we get in our schools without the good things that nobody seems to be picking up on that we get from class 4 gaming machines. We are not allowed to go into the casinos; that is a different realm.The reality of the way we live is that we have to give people that choice. When they have made the choice to give up gambling if they have got a problem with it—many things have got addictions to them. Obesity—food can be bad for us. Sugar is the latest thing on the radar now that everybody has got to be aware of. It is the white devil. But there are things around everywhere that you have to take responsibility for yourself to fix and this is what we are saying. Once you have made that decision we need to make sure that you have got the best care that money can buy because the money is available. The money is actually being captured now to help out people who are in need but they are not getting the support that they need. They are getting a gambling line which is now amalgamated with Lifeline Aotearoa because the gambling line has not got enough work coming in. That suggests to me that the 0.03 percent of problem gamblers in this country is on the decline. Gambling machines from 2002 went from 27000 machines down to 17000 machines and that is just in 10 years. We are down 5 percent in gambling totals from the year.What I am telling people here is that people need to make the choice and the support needs to be there for them from this Government. And the money that is being paid should not be lobbied—it should not be going against gambling; it should be there to give genuine support to help people through their need like we have got Weight Watchers for people who have issues with obesity like we have got other forms of health and recreational things to help people out in their need. We have got swimming classes for people who need to learn to swim. People need to learn to swim. If we fix something we might not be happy with the outcome and we have to ask ourselves: what is it that we are going to try to fix?This will be the death knell for gambling throughout New Zealand and for our community good that comes out of social gambling because it is a perfect storm. Here we are talking about real-time player tracking. That is cost-prohibitive. Let us get real. These gaming machine sites that have got nine or 18 machines—we are not talking about the big casinos that can afford $66 million of their half-yearly returns. They can afford to put in facial tracking recognition. They can put in real-time tracking situations. The moment you bring in that legislation 90 percent of all gaming machine areas around the country will close down and that will have a direct impact—a direct impact—on all of our social networking: our sports our recreation our social engagement. Think about the good that that does. Think about the good. Take responsibility and we will be there to pick up the pieces to help you through your time of need. But to bring in this legislation in its entirety as it stands here before me gives me shudders—to think what New Zealand will look like without that social and financial support that we get for our communities. Thank you.