Brown Peter: Gambling Amendment Bill (No 2) — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeBrown Peter: Gambling Amendment Bill (No 2) — First Reading[Sitting date: 22 August 2007. Volume:641;Page:11408. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]PETER BROWN (Deputy Leader—NZ First): I think I should confess that in my younger days I was a gambler—I was a gambler. As a merchant navy officer it was an activity I got well involved in and I have to say that from time to time I am tempted now. I was tempted at the weekend Mr Assistant Speaker—and I am sure you will understand this—but Arsenal let me down. I felt certain and I would have had a bob on it that they would have beaten Blackburn Rovers. I know that you personally know a little bit about Blackburn Rovers Mr Assistant Speaker—a knowledge that probably others in the House do not share.Hon David Carter: Haven’t got a clue what you’re talking about!PETER BROWN: The member over there does not have a clue about what we are talking about or what he is listening to. In shipboard activities we used to play cards quite frequently. If one takes a successful measure of gambling as being the amount of money one wins then I was quite good at it because I usually won. We used to play poker and pontoon. I even won a cribbage tournament and a significant amount of money. Indeed on one ship I won money on Monopoly.John Carter: That would be right—funny paper money!PETER BROWN: I say to that member that I won real money on Monopoly. One never knows what merchant seafarers used to get up to. As I walked through the lobbies yesterday—and this is true—a young reporter came up to me and asked me whether I had ever been to a strip club. I spent a significant amount of my time as a merchant navy officer yet I was asked whether I had ever been to a strip club! I am not confessing to going to a strip club but I am confessing to having gambled.I have seen the downside of gambling. I have won money—luckily I guess—but I have seen the downside of gambling. If I cast my mind back I remember that I have seen crew members when their gambling was mixed with alcohol attack one another with knives with weapons. I have been the officer who has had to intervene to calm those crew members down. I have seen seafarers go ashore and lose—Hon David Carter: Now he’s talking about the New Zealand First caucus.PETER BROWN: The member thinks that this is a joke. He thinks that the bill is a joke. [Interruption] The member at the back is a joke; Tau Henare is the biggest joke I have met when it comes to politics.The downside of gambling is very significant. I have seen seafarers in particular go to clubs and sit behind pokie machines sometimes operating two or three at a time. I have seen that happen in this country with shore-based people. I have seen them lose almost the shirt off their back—I am talking about some of the fellow seafarers I have sailed with. There is a downside to gambling. I am fortunate that I was not addicted to it; I enjoyed the fun of it. I enjoyed a day at the races—I have not been there for quite some time—I could put the odd dollar on here or the odd dollar on there and I could walk away. But I could not really understand why everyone did not have the same attitude. I have seen people who continued to bet to invest their money and to almost lose their shirts.The Gambling Act that was passed in 2003 was a step in the right direction. This legislation is an amendment to tidy up the flaws and to address the shortcomings in that Act. I listened to Eric Roy; I thought he made some very good salient points and he did it with a degree of humour on which I congratulate him. I listened to Lindsay Tisch the National member before him who also made some points about how the Act is not gelling together correctly. But those issues will be taken care of at the select committee. This is an important bill. It is exceedingly important that the gambling industry operates corruption-free. It is an industry that must have integrity as Eric Roy said before me. It is an industry that is important to New Zealand but it must be well run—it must be run fairly and it must be run straightforwardly as everybody understands.We have in this country an expanding horse racing industry and it is a large credit to the Rt Hon Winston Peters that the taxation regime around that industry has been improved no end. There is potential for it to develop and to become a major industry—a major tourism industry may I suggest. That is the importance of gambling-type industries to this country.The area of problem gamblers though is significant. If an individual does not have the control of self-discipline then society has the obligation to impose discipline. We cannot allow the activity of gambling to undermine the lifestyle of any—the lifestyle of families or the commitment of one member of a family to another—as it has the capabilities of doing.It is very important that this House sends this bill to the select committee. It is pleasing to note that what is a Government bill obviously has the support of both the Government and the National Party and that for once they are not playing politics. They are going to send the bill to the select committee and make an honest endeavour to get it right. I think it is well understood by MPs that if this sort of legislation is not handled correctly then somebody will suffer. It will not be MPs but somebody will suffer. There must be controls on gambling to protect society from itself if you like.New Zealand First will support this bill to go to the select committee. We do not have a member on the select committee so we are putting our faith and our trust in Government and National members to apply themselves to this bill in a conscientious and diligent manner. I know that Mr Tau Henare will not have a clue what I mean when I say that but his colleagues will tell him that this is an issue that has to be addressed comprehensively by the select committee. [Interruption] Do members hear the ramblings in the background?Hon Tau Henare: Hear the ramblings in the background.PETER BROWN: Yes hear the ramblings!Hon Tau Henare: Hear the ramblings.PETER BROWN: Ha ha! The member should have been a comedian. Oh he is a comedian.I hope that the select committee will address this bill in the manner it should and that the bill comes back to the House in a correct form. I take the points that Lindsay Tisch made. I hope that the bill comes back in a correct form that will advance the legislation of this country so that gambling legislation will be all the better for it. New Zealand First will support the bill.