Woolerton R Doug: Reserve Bank of New Zealand Amendment Bill — In Committee 
Woolerton R Doug: Reserve Bank of New Zealand Amendment Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:634;Page:6023] 
R DOUG WOOLERTON (NZ First) 
:  
In speaking to Part 2 of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand Amendment Bill I must say that Sir Patrick Hogan—beavering around in his stables as he does shovelling manure and all that sort of thing as a good Waikato man—would be amazed to hear that speech from John Key. He would be amazed to know that Lindsay Tisch was racing around at the last election trying to promote taxation changes to the racing industry. Because he would know being a sensible very astute businessman that he had hosted many many functions on behalf of the National Party and I have been to a few of them at his stud. He was on and on forever about the taxation of the racing industry and National never listened. It never listened and it took the Rt Hon Winston Peters and New Zealand First in cooperation with the Labour Party to deliver the changes that Patrick Hogan had been looking for all of these years. 
He must be—and I am talking to Part 2 of the bill—a very disillusioned man to know that his hospitality his generosity and his famed ability to bring people on board has been treated in such a way for so many years. It took a relatively new party to deliver that which he had been promised but what was never delivered in all of those years. 
It is true that this bill looks after the taking out of circulation of the 5c and 10c coins. It is true that it gives the Racing Board the ability to take care of its own business in the future—it will not have to come back to the House any more for this sort of legislation. It is true that dividends will be rounded down rather than up but the board has assured us—as the chairman and now Mr Key has said—that it will take account of that in its expenditure and it will make sure that it makes relevant savings and that the punters do not actually lose out of that. 
But I will say a couple of things more and I say in light of previous discussions in this Chamber around gambling casinos and those sorts of things that New Zealand First understands that this is an industry that has approximately 30000 to 35000 people employed nationwide that does have a gambling component but that exports—and “exports” is the critical word. It is no good for National members to sit there saying that this Government or New Zealand First does not believe in exporters because National when it has the opportunity does not put one incentive in place does not put one tax right down in place and does not believe in enhanced depreciation otherwise it would have done it for the racing industry as we have. It does not believe in any of those things. It would sooner support gambling and casinos that suck money out of this country—mainly from the poor—into the rich coffers mainly of American and Australian owners. 
We in New Zealand First think that that is wrong because horse racing in this country which we are talking about in Part 2 of the bill puts money into New Zealanders’ pockets and it makes sure that it stays there. It does not go offshore to the same degree that casino money does. So we have no hesitation in showing preference for this industry over and above others. We think it is absolutely right that a Government should—yes I will use the words—pick winners in this way. We do not pick the winners as in personalities but it is certainly the job of a Government to pick winners when it comes to exports when it comes to imports. This is an industry that fulfils all of the criteria and deserves the help that New Zealand First has ensured it has and we look forward to supporting it in the future.