Tisch Lindsay: Racing Bill — Instruction to CommitteeCWH In Committee 
Tisch Lindsay: Racing Bill — Instruction to CommitteeCWH In Committee 
[Volume:606;Page:3968] 
LINDSAY TISCH (NZ National—Piako) 
: 
 I will take just a brief call on Part 3 in reference to clause— 
Darren Hughes 
: Say it seven times. 
LINDSAY TISCH 
: No I will not say it seven times. I raise a point of order Madam Chairperson. The member is interjecting while not in his seat. Under Speaker’s ruling 52/6 he should abstain from interjecting— 
The CHAIRPERSON (Ann Hartley) 
: I have called the member to order. There is no need for those interjections. 
LINDSAY TISCH 
: I will look briefly at clause 25 which deals with the wind-up of a club. One of the areas of concern relates to the disposal of funds. Subclause (1) which states that “racing public charitable or other purposes in the manner that the club with the approval of the racing code with which it is registered determines.”—gives flexibility in terms of where the club should put its money if it does wind up. 
One of the issues that came up during the select committee process—one that I am very certainly very mindful of—relates to an industry that is looking for investment and wants to improve its position and grow. I would have thought that any proceeds any assets to be distributed should go to racing-related industries. That is what we should be looking at. It could well be that the money go into training in the equine industry. It could go into training jockeys or it could be retained and used possibly for investments in certain areas. The bill is quite wide as to where money may go and this was debated at the select committee. In my view it needs to relate to the industry. It is important that we have money retained in the industry. 
Clause 20A “Racing codes must prepare statement of intent and business plan” is a very important clause. One of the things we have noticed over the years certainly in the work I have done as a consultant in a previous life is that it is very important for a lot of businesses to have a business plan—and we are treating this as a business; it is an industry that needs to understand what the principles are. Clause 20A was inserted by the select committee. There was much discussion about it and I certainly want to reinforce the importance of putting this industry on a business footing. Part of doing that is preparing a statement of intent and having a business plan that allows for transparency and accountability as the industry grows. Those points will be important when we look at distribution. When the codes are paying out to the clubs we want to make sure that the clubs that will be getting the money are in a position to use it and to make sure it is not squandered. 
That brings me to clause 22 “Distribution to clubs of funds received from Board”. I know that within the galloping or the thoroughbred racing industry there could be about $32 million that will go out. We are talking big money. We are talking about large sums of money and it is very important that the transparency and accountability mentioned in clause 20A is there. We do not want to see money being wasted. We want to make sure it is used for the right purposes and we want to make sure there is a return on the investment. It is important that the industry has that opportunity to invest and grow and we do not want to see that money wasted.