Hipkins Chris: Gambling (Gambling Harm Reduction) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Hipkins Chris: Gambling (Gambling Harm Reduction) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Sitting date: 09 May 2012. Volume:679;Page:2147. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
CHRIS HIPKINS (Labour—Rimutaka) 
: 
 I am happy to take the call while you consider that matter. I very happily speak in favour of this piece of legislation the Gambling (Gambling Harm Reduction) Amendment Bill. The lack of progress the House has made in the time that I have been here on dealing with gambling harm reduction measures has been of concern to me for some time. We had a debate fairly early on in my time as a parliamentarian when we discussed the Gambling Amendment Bill (No 2) which was at the time in the name of the then Minister Richard Worth. It has not made any progress at all I do not think since Mr Worth left Parliament but we had a useful exchange of ideas around some of the issues that should be addressed. We should not be blind to the fact that gambling causes significant harm in our local communities. I think the House does need to reflect on where we have got to over the course of several decades since pokie machines were introduced into New Zealand.  
We do have a situation now where a number of community groups rely on the proceeds of gambling in order to fund themselves. We are talking about sports clubs charities and a number of groups whose contributions we value that are now relying on the proceeds of gambling in order to function. I actually think there is a very salient comment made by the Methodist Church in an opinion piece in the Christchurch  
Press 
 recently. I want to quote directly from it: “No decent society should fund its sports recreation and commercial activities from the pockets of its poorest citizens.” I think that that is quite a legitimate thing for it to say. It is a sentiment I strongly agree with. Of course there is no instant solution that we can reach here. I think this bill is a useful contribution to the debate that we should be having but we can certainly make sure we do not make the situation any worse.  
I think it is incumbent on all of us here as parliamentarians to accept the fact that we do have a problem with gambling in New Zealand at the moment and we have a problem with the system that we have set up for gambling at the moment. We can at least not make it any worse. That is why I am very concerned that although the National Government sheds crocodile tears around problem gambling today and votes in favour of this bill it is about to go out there and do a deal with the biggest gambling company in this country—the biggest gambling outfit in this country—Skycity to build a convention centre that will be funded by the poorest citizens in our country. This will be funded by the poorest citizens in our country. 
Hon Dr Jonathan Coleman 
: This is the man who spent a week at Skycity! Talk about hypocrisy. 
CHRIS HIPKINS 
: That is right I did spend a week at Skycity because I wanted to find out firsthand exactly what was going on there and I did find out by spending the time there. I can say that having seen what goes on there I do not think that the decision that National is taking to expand the gambling opportunities at Skycity in exchange for its sweetheart deal for a convention centre is the right thing to do. In fact there are other options on the table there. John Key stopped officials working on other options to fund the convention centre because of the dodgy deal he reached with Skycity Casino. I think that is fundamentally wrong. It is morally corrupt. I think it is a disgrace that National whilst shedding crocodile tears in favour of this legislation—which is good legislation—is then going to go ahead on the other hand and expand gambling opportunities at Skycity Casino. I do not think that is right. I think that is fundamentally wrong and I think that the Government should be ashamed of itself for that.  
The Labour Party stands behind our track record when it comes to gambling. In 2002 we did take steps to reduce the harm from gambling in New Zealand including introducing the sinking lid on pokie machines that John Key now says is going to reduce the number of pokie machines we have overall even though National is increasing them at Skycity. Well actually I reckon that is the wrong position for him to take because we should have fewer pokie machines around the country. That does not mean that we should reduce them in one area so that he can prop up his mates at Skycity by putting in more pokie machines at Skycity. I think that is fundamentally wrong and I think the Government should be ashamed of itself.  
Problem gambling causes huge social harm. It causes huge social harm. I do not believe that we should be expanding gambling opportunities and expanding the opportunities for that harm to take place so that the Government can get a convention centre which it could get in other ways. In fact there was work going on commissioned by John Key until he got a better offer from Skycity. And then he cancelled consideration of any other option for a convention centre in Auckland—