Coleman Jonathan: Crimes (Match-fixing) Amendment Bill — Second ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeColeman Jonathan: Crimes (Match-fixing) Amendment Bill — Second Reading[Sitting date: 27 November 2014. Volume:702;Page:937. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN (Minister for Sport and Recreation):I move That the Crimes (Match-fixing) Amendment Bill be now read a second time. This bill seeks to address the growing reports of match fixing. I would like to begin by thanking the Law and Order Committee for the work that has gone on and for its careful consideration of the bill. I would also like to thank all those who have submitted on the bill. As a result of those submissions and the committee’s careful consideration of them a small but important amendment has been recommended which I will return to later.This bill makes an amendment to the Crimes Act to clarify under section 240 of the Act that match fixing is a form of deception. This amendment is necessary because it is currently unclear whether match fixing can be prosecuted in New Zealand. With two major sporting events to be hosted in New Zealand next year—the International Cricket Council Cricket World Cup and the FIFA U-20 World Cup—and with the risk of match fixing growing internationally this bill is timely in providing that match fixing can be dealt with under the criminal law as well as by non-legislative means. This combination of legislative and sporting code responses will place New Zealand in a very strong position to tackle this threat.New Zealand along with Australia will co-host the International Cricket Council Cricket World Cup in February next year. The Cricket World Cup is the International Cricket Council’s flagship 1-day international tournament. New Zealand has achieved an excellent allocation of matches including the same number of pool matches and host cities as Australia. There will be 49 matches in 44 days across 14 venues across both nations. Christchurch will host the opening ceremony and the opening match of the tournament. The International Cricket Council Cricket World Cup will be the first major international sporting tournament held in the city since the Canterbury earthquakes. Government agencies through Sport New Zealand’s world cup office are working closely with the local organising committee to ensure the coordinated delivery of essential services and support. The world cup’s office is also working with “New Zealand Inc.” agencies and regional development bodies to ensure the benefits of hosting the tournament are fully realised.Our hosting of the International Cricket Council Cricket World Cup is a once-in-a-generation opportunity. This is not only a fantastic tournament for Kiwi cricket fans but also a great opportunity to showcase New Zealand to the world with a television audience expected globally of 1.6 billion people. However we have got to ensure that we are prepared for this event. Cricket is a sport well known for presenting match-fixing risks. We would be naive to assume that New Zealand is immune to those risks and anyone who has read the sports pages over the past year will be well aware of what I am talking about. This bill forms an important part of the preparations for hosting this important tournament. Match fixing would damage the integrity growth and development of sport in New Zealand. It could also have a negative impact on our prospects of hosting future major sporting events events that bring a raft of social cultural and economic benefits.I would like to take this opportunity to clarify a few aspects of the bill and to pick up on some of the issues that were discussed by the committee. Firstly this bill is about criminalising the most serious form of match fixing; it is not about making athletes or other people liable for serious criminal offences simply for not playing to the very best of their ability or for breaching their sport’s code of ethics. That sort of behaviour is very much within the purview of governing sports bodies. The bill is aimed at situations where a match or racing event is manipulated with intent to influence a betting outcome. This is where the conduct involved becomes truly criminal. The bill makes it clear that anyone who obtains a benefit or causes a loss by manipulating a match or racing event with intent to influence a betting outcome commits an offence. Such manipulation not only damages the integrity of sport it also allows dishonest people to make potentially significant amounts of money through deception. Match fixing can also provide organised crime with a lucrative income stream. This type of behaviour has no place in New Zealand.It is also important to note that this bill is not the only measure being adopted to fight match fixing. Sport New Zealand is doing a lot of work to help ensure that governing sports bodies have appropriate measures in place. New Zealand’s response to the risk of match fixing has been described as world leading by Interpol. The New Zealand Policy on Sports Match-fixing and Related Corruption was launched in May 2014. It includes a set of fundamental rules that governing sports bodies must put in place. These rules set out how they will prevent and respond to match fixing and will be linked to sanctions such as bans from participation in sport for breaching the rules. Governing sports bodies will also be required to have education programmes in place so that everyone linked with the organisation understands their part in preventing match fixing. These non-legislative measures are crucial in the fight against match fixing because they give the sports sector the tools to protect itself from corruption.One matter discussed by the Law and Order Committee was the extent to which the bill applies to a person who arranges the fix—that is someone who induces a player to fix a match. Obviously these kinds of questions are always fact and circumstance - specific. However it is clear under the bill that anyone who obtains a benefit or causes a loss by manipulating a match with intent to influence a betting outcome will commit just such an offence. If the circumstances of a particular case do not allow the person who organised the fix to be prosecuted directly he or she will still be captured by section 66 of the Crimes Act. This section makes a person liable if they help encourage or procure another person to commit an offence. Once this bill is passed both those who arrange a fix and those who carry out the on-field deception will be liable.The committee has recommended one small but significant amendment to the bill that will help to remove a possible unintended defence. This unintended defence is created by the words “otherwise than for tactical or strategic sporting reasons”. The committee has recommended that these words be removed from the bill. These words were originally intended to reflect the policy intent that mere manipulation of a match for tactical or strategic reasons should not be criminalised. However it has become apparent that these words may provide an offence where a match is manipulated at least in part for tactical or strategic sporting reasons. This defence could apply even if the person also acted with intent to influence a betting outcome. Such a defence is undesirable because it would allow a person who manipulated a match with intent to influence a betting income to escape liability. For example a person who deliberately loses a match to gain an advantage in the next round of competition but who also bets on this result would escape liability.There are a couple of other points I would like to make clear about the bill. First the betting that motivates the match fixing need not occur in regulated betting markets. Match fixers will often be motivated by returns that can be made in lucrative unregulated betting markets including those offshore. Secondly I would like to make it clear that the bill also covers spot fixing—the practice of predetermining discrete events within a match such as the timing of a no-ball in cricket or a yellow-card in football. New section 240A(1)(b) inserted by clause 4 of the bill makes this clear.Lastly I would like to thank again the Law and Order Committee those who submitted on the bill and those officials who worked on the bill. It is an important bill that will protect the integrity of New Zealand sport and it is great that it is going to be in place for what will be a wonderful event for New Zealand the International Cricket Council Cricket World Cup. I commend this bill to the House.