Faafoi Kris: Crimes (Match-fixing) Amendment Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeFaafoi Kris: Crimes (Match-fixing) Amendment Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 30 July 2014. Volume:700;Page:19769. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]KRIS FAAFOI (Labour - Mana):Can I just start my contribution by wishing to all those members who have chosen not to return to this House all the very best—to the Assistant Speaker who was formerly in the Chair Ross Robertson from our side of the House 27 years of service to this House is obviously something worth celebrating and to everyone else who has chosen to leave politics.This Crimes (Match-fixing) Amendment Bill is a very important bill for the purposes of making sure that we are ready for two events: the Cricket World Cup which kicks off I believe in February next year and also the FIFA U-20 World Cup. We also want to make sure that for the integrity of those two events we stamp out any sense of match fixing that may go on around them and also in a sense that for the children in our own communities who play sports every weekend they grow up making sure that the sports heroes they watch on their television screens are out there doing as best as they can.Can I acknowledge Trevor Mallard and his contribution. I think Hutt Old Boys Marist versus Wainuiōmata this weekend at the Hutt Recreation Ground. I just want to tell a quick story about Trevor Mallard and his love for Wainuiōmata. One Saturday afternoon I invited him to Porirua Park as Wainuiōmata played the mighty Norths rugby club in my electorate of Mana. He was lucky to get out of there alive to be honest because of the amount of barracking and abuse of people from my electorate. From a member of Parliament it was to be completely honest unbelievable. I thought that kind of behaviour from a member of Parliament was unforgiveable. I actually told Trevor that he was lucky to get out unscathed. What was unfortunate was that Wainuiōmata won that game by one point in a last-minute intercept and a length of the field try. So at that stage Trevor Mallard was being chased by someone trying to serve a summons on him and I tweeted exactly where he was and that they should come and get him.That kind of passion for sports in our communities is really important. The fact that people travel long distances and fervently support their rugby clubs every weekend is something that we want to maintain in our communities something that we should not lose. If we are letting the scourge of sports betting infiltrate the higher levels then I think what we will see happen is that people will not give a damn about sports whatsoever which would be quite sad. We need to make sure that we protect the integrity of our highest levels of sports to make sure that our grassroots sports do survive.I am also a cricket tragic like the Green Party member Kevin Hague. It has been nice to leave Parliament and go home to watch an hour or two of India versus England which is going on at the moment but that is obviously the sport that is at the moment in the spotlight in terms of match fixing. Louisa Wall mentioned earlier that the regulatory impact statement showed just how widespread fraudulent betting and match fixing is. I think it was something like $140 billion in 2010. That being 4 years ago I think it has probably got a lot worse than that over time.This year has been an unfortunate year for that sport in terms of a couple of instances. I guess it is sad that we are having to bring this bill through but we are naive to think that New Zealand is not going to be hit by this in some shape or form. So it is for all those kids who are playing cricket probably not now but in the summer. I played cricket for the mighty Hoon Hay club which is in the fine electorate of Wigram which is represented by my colleague here Megan Woods. I think for the sense of those kids to have heroes—certainly Richard Hadlee Stephen Boock Ken Rutherford Lance Cairns all those guys whom we believed in when we were growing up wearing their test cricket beige and white with integrity and playing their guts out to make sure they would win for their country Lance Cairns and the Excalibur Martin Snedden and that catch that should have been a catch. It was a great thing to watch Sir Richard Hadlee get those 400 wickets at Lancaster Park and Nathan Astle get I think 286. You know those guys are in there giving their all for their country. To think that sports betting could cast a shadow over those kinds of things for our youngsters. I think we need to make sure that we are stamping down on this kind of behaviour and this type of match fixing quite well.So in a sense what I think we have got here is probably the first step and we should take more action when this Parliament has more time. We do need to make sure that we are ready for those two events: the Cricket World Cup which a lot of eyes will be on and the FIFA U-20 World Cup which officials tell us could be open to some form of match fixing. As we have said on this side of the House we do support the Government’s move to make sure that we stamp out any allegations or any hint of anything that may go on during those two tournaments that may not be above aboard.Can I also take the chance to congratulate our Commonwealth Games sportspeople. They have done great work over there. Our Silver Ferns are I think up for a gold medal in a semi against England and hopefully for a final against I believe Australia—another mammoth showdown. I know I am a Wellington-based MP and I do support the Hurricanes but I was born and bred in Christchurch so the Crusaders this weekend will bring the Super 15 title back home to New Zealand. I know that those red and black boys are above reproach. I wish them all the best. For that we support this piece of legislation not only for the highest level of sport but also for the integrity of sport at a community level. Thank you.