Bennett DavidHon DAVID BENNETT (National—Hamilton East): It would have been good to have the Minister for Racing up first. It would have been good to be able to see what his plans are because I think that the issues around this bill have been widely canvassed by all the speakers. Ian McKelvie raised the point that we raised yesterday in the second reading and that is the responsibility that's now on the Minister. That's a responsibility that he cannot take lightly and we would really like to get some comfort from him today about what his plans actually are.Now we all know that this is the first part of the legislative process and it's the easy part effectively. It's giving money to the industry and it's working off the basis of legislation that had been prepared some years ago and it enables it to be taken to the next step with the reduction of that levy over time. But the real impetus for the industry will become in how that money is actually used and that's where the Minister has a vital role because in providing the leadership for this legislation he also has a role now in the next year or so in providing leadership around how that money is allocated.I'd like to pay credit to my—[Interruption]CHAIRPERSON (Hon Anne Tolley): I'm sorry to interrupt the member but could I just—are you coming or going? Thank you. Carry on.Hon DAVID BENNETT: Thank you Madam Chair. It's not quite the races yet but thank you for keeping everybody in order.Hon Ruth Dyson: We're hanging on every word!Hon DAVID BENNETT: You should be—you should be. I'd just like to acknowledge that it's not just about racing; as well this is a huge thing for sport. Our spokesman on sport Nikki Kaye has done a tremendous job in advocating for sports in this debate. But we shouldn't lose sight of the fact that sport could win by the value of about $18 million to $33 million a year out of this. Those are the figures that are in the departmental report. On the back of the envelope you're probably looking at about $10 million that you could probably allocate to sport as its proportion. We must realise that sport is about 27 percent of the total betting turnover of the TAB. Now that will only increase over time and sport will—as Nikki Kaye has said—have a justification for seeking greater funding. I'm sure the Minister for Sport and Recreation will be arguing for that as well. However on the other side of it we must understand that the TAB is something that has been set up by the racing codes many many years ago. It does give an avenue for sports to collect that money that they wouldn't have otherwise and there will necessarily be a cost involved in that collection.That is one of the responsibilities that now is on the Minister because in the process of the Transport and Infrastructure Committee there was one major theme that came through and that was the good-faith element. Now all three codes are undertaking good faith in the way that they have approached this legislation. They haven't sought to have individual representation on the board. They haven't sought to have those distributions identified primarily in the legislation. They could have and they may have liked to have had that but they have taken a broader good-faith approach to this legislation.The sports entities have taken the same good-faith approach. They have put a lot of trust in the Minister and in the Minister for Sport and Recreation to make sure that that good faith is rewarded in a way that would be for the benefit of all sports codes and racing codes. So that is one of the primary obligations the Minister now has to face.Now we're going to hear about a second tranche of legislation that the Minister intends to put forward and that is sometime in the future. It is not settled at this stage even within the coalition. But without that legislation there is still a requirement for the Minister to exercise that good faith now because there is a reliance on him from the codes and also the sporting entities. That is primarily his responsibility for now through his appointment of who will be on the board and the guidance he will give them no doubt over time.The second element is going back to what Mr McKelvie raised. If we take it from a very racing perspective the money we're talking about here is not huge in the sense of the total quantum of what racing spends earns or will need to turn it around. It is a start and it is a nice start but this is not going to change the racing industry overnight.But what can happen is this money can be utilised in a way to enable the racing industry to make some strategic changes and some strategic choices. That is the second responsibility that is on the Minister because he is the one that has the most contact with those industries as the relevant Minister and is the one putting this legislation through the House. His responsibility now I believe is to ensure that this money does not just get allocated to the great pool and diluted across many many racecourses and many many race meetings in New Zealand. There has to be a better way of doing it. We're not dealing with a huge amount of money for racing that will turn it around but we are dealing with enough money in racing that we can make some really strategic decisions.I encourage the Minister to put some of his decisions that he is making in other fields in the racing area together with the money that is coming here today. You look at the desire to have a synthetic track for example and the Minister's acknowledgment that he wants to have three throughout the country. Now those synthetic tracks are yet to be seen where they will go but it's very important because the money that will come from this legislation needs to be incorporated with a wider vision of how that investment in the horse industry—and especially the breeding industry and also for the dogs—goes along so that we actually get to a situation where this money makes real change.If anyone talks to anybody in the industry the biggest change they want to see is that they want higher stakes. They say that stakes are the important thing because that will enable investment by people that want to own horses and it will encourage a return for those that are training or driving and jockeys and other people that are involved in the horse and dog sector. That return can easily get diluted with this money in the sense that it won't make a major difference if we put it across the whole of the industry. But if we're careful of how we do it and we structure it and link it with other reforms and other investments then there is the potential to create that degree of the industry that will enable it to flourish and succeed. I encourage the Minister to think about that because that is the real opportunity he has. This bill will pass through the House. It has support from all political parties and it is not just voting support; it has moral support as well.But the real issue now will be for how we use this money to make sure that that industry can actually go ahead and flourish. It has got the opportunity ahead of it and it has got a mechanism here to assist but this mechanism needs to be in conjunction with other endeavours.In closing this is a good bill for New Zealand racing and is a particularly good bill for New Zealand sport. For New Zealand sport going forward the gains that will be out of this will be tremendous as there is greater betting on sport around the world and on New Zealand sport from overseas. The gains that New Zealand sport will get will be tremendous. The gains that New Zealand racing will get will also be significant. But they need to be used in a constructive way so that we actually get the result that everybody wants and that is a strong racing industry. So I commend this bill to the House and I thank the Minister for passing it through. I realise that it has been a long process because you have had the Messara Report and you've had other interactions to get it to the stage where we are now. So I thank the Minister for bringing it forward.