Turei Metiria: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to MinistersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeTurei Metiria: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 10 July 2013. Volume:692;Page:11847. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]4.METIRIA TUREI (Co-Leader—Green)to theMinister for Economic Development: When he said that gambling-related harm from theSkyCity deal would be mitigated by “negotiated significant additional harm minimisation measures” did he mean measures additional to those the casino is already obliged to use; if so how?Hon STEVEN JOYCE (Minister for Economic Development):Yes. The Government has negotiated a number of significant harm minimisation measures as part of the agreement with Skycity. These include the introduction of the predictive modelling tool which analyses data to identify players at risk of problem gambling. Skycity is also being required to implement a voluntary pre-commitment system where players can elect to restrict the amount of time they play or the amount they spend and this applies to all machines at all times in the casino and will become part ofSkycity’s host responsibility programme. It will also have to introduce player identification requirements when amounts over $500 are being put on to or cashed from ticket-in ticket-out machines in non-restricted areas as well as of course doubling of the number of host responsibility specialists to deliver 24-hours-a-day 7-days-a-week coverage in the casino.Metiria Turei: How many of the 13000 people and 6500 children whom his advisers say will be harmed by this deal will not be harmed due to the supposedly additional measures?Hon STEVEN JOYCE: I reject again today the premise of the member’s question. I have reviewed the regulatory impact statement fairly carefully as you would expect and it makes it clear that actually being able to determine a level of additional harm is not possible to do. They talk about a hypothesis and it is very difficult to estimate the additional numbers of people who may experience problems. They also say that putting a precise cost on a potential increase is also difficult.Metiria Turei: Will the Minister release all the advice he has received on the social harms of the extra gambling in this deal today so that when National MPs vote tomorrow they are fully informed about the extent of the social harms in his bill?Hon STEVEN JOYCE: I will check again but my understanding is we have released most of the information that we have. There is some more information in regards to the negotiations which will be released in the next little while but I think particularly the key elements in relation to potential harm have been released and are also very adequately traversed in the regulatory impact statement.Metiria Turei: Will the Minister explain to his colleagues before they vote tomorrow why the New Zealand Police and the Ministry of Justice were excluded from the discussions to introduce ticket-in ticket-out technology throughout the whole casino when his officials knew that those ministries would be concerned about the increased risk of money-laundering?Hon STEVEN JOYCE: I am not sure that the member is correct on that but certainly it is fair to say that my colleagues in the caucus of the National Party have had plenty of time partly with assistance from the member to assess their level of support for this particular arrangement including of course the ability to assess whether the 230 machines are an appropriate arrangement to make for a very large convention centre compared with say 230 machines for one a quarter of the size under the previous Government supported by the Greens.Metiria Turei: I seek leave to table an email received by me under the Official Information Act dated 16 March 2012 from an official who says: “As for Justice and Police they have obviously not been consulted on the details—”Mr SPEAKER: Leave is sought to table that document. Is there any objection? There appears to be none. It can be tabled.Document by leave laid on the Table of the House.Metiria Turei: Is it not the truth Minister that the Minister is frightened of supporting a genuine conscience vote on this bill because he knows that this bill this deal is hanging by a one-vote thread?Hon STEVEN JOYCE: I am pretty confident and I know that the Government is pretty confident about the votes on this side of the House but I appreciate there are members on the other side of the House who might like the opportunity to vote for jobs and growth through this bill. I note that the Labour leader for example has allowed a conscience vote in this matter and given the state of the Labour caucus I expect a few more votes from them.Hon Trevor Mallard: Is this Minister prepared to rule out using a process similar to this for a convention centre in another city?Hon STEVEN JOYCE: Well I can tell the member that there are no plans at all that I am aware of in this respect. What he raises is a hypothetical question and we would deal with it if it came up at the time but there has been certainly nothing raised in that regard.