Bayly AndrewANDREW BAYLY (National—Hunua): Thank you Madam Speaker. It's a pleasure to be talking on the Racing Industry Bill. I think as we all know the bill was originally introduced by the Minister for Racing back in December 2019 and followed a very well-considered report prepared by John Messara who has played an instrumental role in reforming the Australian racing industry. He came to New Zealand and spent some time looking at the New Zealand industry which unfortunately over time has been going backwards. His wide-ranging report focused on a whole range of issues from governance issues right through to the ownership of tracks; also just how things are done here in New Zealand particularly the betting arrangements.It's clear that the industry needs to be able to reorganise regroup to be able to move forward. And of course as most of the former speakers have mentioned the New Zealand racing industry is a wonderful industry and employs a lot of people 50000 people. It's a big money earner from exports and it brings a lot of profile to New Zealand and also as I said export dollars.But the reality is that simply for people who want to own and race a horse in New Zealand it is almost at a point where you—in virtually most cases—you lose money on that venture unless you are lucky enough to perhaps win a group 1 race and that will recover your cost. But very few horses are in that situation. So we have an industry that's in trouble. So it was interesting after the bill had been introduced in December walking around Karaka saleyards in February. I could not believe the reaction that I received from many owners and many breeders who were attending those sales because what the industry was saying to me and to many others was quite simply: if you read the Messara report and then you looked at the bill that had been introduced late last year it was diametrically different—it was almost as if the people who had prepared the bill had not read the original Messara report—and there was a plea for help. So out of that process the select committee has gone to work to make substantial changes to this bill and most of it's been canvassed before. I do want to acknowledge some members of the Transport and Infrastructure Committee not only my colleague Ian McKelvie particularly and Tim van de Molen but also the members from the Government. We worked proactively and consistently—basically over the last six seven months—to get the bill into a shape which really reflects the Messara recommendations.The key parts I think can sort of be distilled down. We have three elements in the racing industry: we have the TAB at one end of it which is around betting; at the other end we have the three codes—thoroughbred racing trotting and greyhounds—and in between there is sort of a loose grouping that was provided for in the original bill but not specifically catered for. And so the efforts of the committee are really focused on all of those three areas. The first one was around the TAB which is about undertaking betting and the first change that was made was this question of the intellectual property that my colleague Ian McKelvie spoke of. This is the IP the intellectual property owned by all of the industry and for some reason that had been put into the control of an operating entity called TAB. In the event that the TAB went bust or ceased to operate or whatever that IP would be permanently locked in that vehicle and whoever actually picked up that vehicle should it go into receivership. It's 101 in any business structure never to put IP into an operating entity. So that was the first change that was made and it also reflects that the IP is owned by the" industry and I say in all its component parts.The second thing was around the governance of the TAB and this is a crucial bit. This is the bit that drives the money into the racing industry. It drives what the racing stakes are and therefore drives the profitability of actually owning a horse and actually underpins the breeding of horses in New Zealand which is a fantastic industry here. The key thing—and there's been a lot of concerns about the governance of the TAB and so what we brought into play with the TAB are two things. One is how the board is constructed to operate that TAB going forward. And basically what the rules are now are there: one a representative from the three codes—racing trotting and greyhound—and they have an absolute right to have an appointee on the TAB although the people that they nominate must have adequate and sufficient skills to be able to be on that board. And then there are four other appointments possibly quite likely one from sporting organisations and then some independent board members. So basically it is to make a board that has the necessary skills but also reflects the interests of all the underlying ownership of the TAB which is really the three codes. The other thing we've put in place was an accountability from the TAB back to the codes and I'll talk more about that in a second. But that was a crucial bit because what we didn't want to set up was a commercial organisation with a commercial board without adequate framework in place to make sure that they really were driving and looking after the industry that essentially owns them from behind. So what we then did is that in the middle—the original bill had provided for a possibility of an independent organisation being set up to represent the three codes. In John Messara's report it actually specified that this should be set up so there was a collegial approach and professional approach. So we changed the bill from it being one that could be catered for in the future to specifically set up that body called Racing New Zealand and gave it a specific purpose which includes not only setting race meetings and the rules around that also around judiciary roles in terms of racing—a whole raft of sort of different roles. But one of the most crucial roles was for Racing New Zealand to make sure it held TAB accountable. So there was a process around agreeing a statement of corporate intent or the objectives of the TAB and also a business plan. So we've got interlocking accountabilities between the TAB and this Racing New Zealand representing the three codes. And that's a crucial part to making sure you've got adequate tension between shareholders and operators. The last thing was around the codes themselves and they are now enshrined and have their own operation but also have the right to have appointees on Racing New Zealand. And I think that will provide a sort of a good framework—a corporate commercial intention—to make sure that the TAB operates in the best interests of the racing industry but at the same time allowing it to get on with its own operations. The last thing is around the sale of racing tracks. I think the big strategic issue for the committee was there are some tracks that should be sold in New Zealand and there are some tracks that shouldn't be sold in New Zealand. And somehow we had to devise a process to reflect that. And so of the most paramount importance for particularly smaller provincial clubs was to see the loss of those clubs and the loss of those racing facilities. And one of the crucial things is once you lose racing clubs or racecourses where training takes place as soon as that training disappears the industry folds and disappears around it. So we were very mindful of making sure that the small commercial clubs in provincial areas could continue to operate and would continue to operate even if they were downgraded from a full racing club down into a training facility.But we also wanted to make sure that we protected those with very strong community interests. There are many many good examples. Marlborough is one of the most interesting ones where A&P shows are held regularly at the racecourse. There's joint ownership or overlapping ownership. There are lots of courses where there's such a strong community interest that to see those courses sold off would be the wrong thing to do and therefore we have a process that's lined up and caters for that. But there's also a process where courses may want to be sold. And I think we've struck the right balance and I certainly commend the bill and look forward to the committee of the whole House process when we can discuss it in more detail."