Yang Jian: Gambling (Gambling Harm Reduction) Amendment Bill — Third ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeYang Jian: Gambling (Gambling Harm Reduction) Amendment Bill — Third Reading[Sitting date: 04 September 2013. Volume:693;Page:13275. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Dr JIAN YANG (National): Thank you for the opportunity to speak on the third reading of the Gambling (Gambling Harm Reduction) Amendment Bill. I would like to acknowledge Te Ururoa Flavell for putting forward this bill and I would also like to acknowledge the Hon Chris Tremain Minister of Internal Affairs and also Jonathan Young chair of the Commerce Committee for doing an excellent job in overseeing the public submissions process and changes to the original bill. Annual expenditure on pokie machines has fallen from $912 million in 2008 to $840 million last year. The number of machines has also fallen from 25000 in 2003 to around 17500 now. But still much needs to be done. This is particularly important to the Asian communities because they are more vulnerable to gambling harm.The bill’s purpose is to provide additional measures to prevent and minimise the harm caused by gambling to ensure that money from gambling benefits the community and to enable community involvement in decisions about the provisions of gambling. National takes problem gambling seriously and we fully recognise that it can bring harm to some people and communities. Changes made to the bill by the Commerce Committee of which I am a member will help combat this. The original bill for example said that harm-minimisation devices may be introduced through a society’s licence conditions. The select committee recommended a regulation-making power instead. Regulations enable us to introduce new technologies on a nationwide mandatory basis rather than through each individual licence. Regulations are also more flexible as new technology develops. Many community groups organisations andsports clubs rely on gaming funding to provide important services to their community. This bill will ensure that a minimum percentage of gambling proceeds will go to community groups in the area where they were raised while maintaining some flexibility.Some communities are disproportionately affected by problem gambling—for example lower-income communities and Māori and Pasifika populations. This bill will give more flexibility to councils to allow venues to move out of lower socio-economic neighbourhoods and into areas like central business districts where it is supported by the local council. The original bill would have required 80 percent of gaming proceeds to be distributed in the local area where the proceeds were raised. The select committee recommended the introduction of a regulation-making power instead. We can achieve the same outcomes through regulation which is more flexible and will enable us to consider issues such as national or regional groups that receive funding from gaming societies. The original bill recommended that councils rather than gaming societies should distribute funding. There was no support for this at the select committee and we support a continued role of gaming societies.The original bill expressed a concern about the roles and conflicts of interest in gaming societies. We are addressing these issues through a wider package of reforms that will be introduced later this year. I will elaborate on that later on. These improvements to the bill will enable a smoother way to introduce harm-minimisation devices and a more flexible model for ensuring that gaming proceeds go back to the communities where they were raised. Earlier this year the Government announced a $55.3 million 3-year strategy for problem gambling which focuses on giving people the assistance they need. This includes $25.3 million for front-line intervention services to help people with gambling problems and others affected by these problems. It also includes $20.5 million for public health services particularly prevention activities encouraging safe gambling practices and raising awareness of the potential dangers of gambling and it also includes $6.6 million for research and evaluation.Our full package of changes is much broader in scope than this bill and improves a number of other measures such as increasing the level of funding that goes back to the community. Along with the $55.3 million 3-year strategy for problem gambling which I talked about we will be introducing reforms this year that include more funding for the community lower compliance costs and increased transparency and compliance. More specifically these reforms will increase the minimum amount that gaming societies are required to return to the community. Every additional 1 percent means $8.5 million more for community and sporting groups. Also the reforms will simplify the way societies pay bars and pubs to host gaming machines issue longer licences as an incentive for compliant societies and venues and enable grant information to be published online rather than in a newsletter. Also the reforms will enable the auditing of management companies strengthen the ability to address conflicts of interest improve transparency of grant decisions and clarify the law to enable the Department of Internal Affairs to suspend or cancel a licence in response to non-compliance. The National-led Government takes problem gambling seriously and we believe that we are moving in the right direction. Thank you.