Sage EugenieHon EUGENIE SAGE (Minister of Conservation): Tēnā koe Mr Speaker. Thank you. I am very pleased to speak on the Racing Reform Bill even though I lack anything like the experience of the previous member Alastair Scott with either racing horses or gambling on them.This bill is from a very enthusiastic and dedicated Minister for Racing who inherited an industry that was in serious decline and because of the commitment to revitalise that industry commissioned the Messara report as an independent report with a suite of recommendations. This bill is the first of two pieces of legislation to help revitalise the industry and recognise the important status of the thoroughbred breeding industry and racing industry to New Zealand and its economic contribution. So it's certainly about getting the racing industry back on track.The provision in the bill for a transitional agency in terms of providing governance the Racing Industry Transition Agency or RITA to take over from the New Zealand Racing Board—the members opposite keep worrying that there won't be enough attention to sport and funding from the proceeds of racing for sport. Can I remind them once again that clause 11 of the bill provides for the Minister to appoint to RITA people who've got knowledge of or experience in the racing industry and sport administration at a national level". It gives no preference to just having people on RITA who come from the racing industry. So ensuring that there are people on RITA who've got that expertise in sport administration—as well as the change that the select committee has made that requires consultation with the Minister for Sport and Recreation in terms of any regulations which change the way in which the proceeds of betting are distributed—I think will lead to sports codes being assured that they and their needs will be adequately represented when it comes to the distribution of the proceeds of betting.One of the key reasons that the Green Party is supporting this bill is because in it in new section 17A inserted by clause 13 it requires the agency when it's making decisions about betting profits to ensure that some of those profits are retained by the agency in relation to harm prevention and minimisation from both racing betting and sports betting. And that is absolutely critical because as the previous member noted things like pokie machines because they are available constantly do feed into people's addictions with gambling but in terms of racing there is less continuity. The importance of this clause in the bill is ensuring that there is funding available to minimise gambling harm and to deal with gambling harm.That word "harm" is really important because it is not the individual that is the major concern here; it is the behaviour and how we can ensure that funding goes to reduce the harm that gambling addiction causes not only to the person but to their colleagues their family—issues like family violence alcohol addiction problems at work mental health issues that go back to gambling addiction. So ensuring that there is a portion of the profits of betting that goes to minimise this was critical for the Green Party's support for the bill. A previous speaker the Hon Nikki Kaye highlighted this as well but I make the point that there are regulations that the Minister will have to draft through an Order in Council and they will have to specify the amounts that will be retained and the select committee has made some changes there by ensuring that those regulations provide for a proportion of the distribution of the betting profits.This bill is the first of two bills to put the racing industry back on its feet to implement the recommendations in the Messara report which suggested that there needs to be a much stronger focus on financial and economic viability for the industry. The changes that the bill makes in terms of ensuring that offshore betting operators contribute to the racing and sports codes where they are taking bets contribute to the funding of those—that is a much fairer user-pays situation. That means the proceeds from that offshore betting can actually assist the industry. The bill also provides for the progressive repeal of the totaliser duty over three or so years and ensures that the funding from that is used to help the industry.So this is a transitional bill. The changes that the select committee made mean that RITA can only exist till 2022. It is the first of two bills and with these provisions around a requirement that there be funding for gambling harm the Green Party is pleased to support it."