Mark Ron: Sports Anti-Doping Bill — First Reading 
Mark Ron: Sports Anti-Doping Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:628;Page:988] 
RON MARK (NZ First) 
: 
 I rise to indicate that New Zealand First will support the passage of this bill and to congratulate the Minister again on bringing the bill which is long overdue to the House. I note that the work on it was actually commenced under a previous administration—in fact quite some time ago when the Hon John Banks was in Parliament. 
I want to spend a wee bit of time in responding and replying to some of the comments that have just been made and I say to the Hon Mr Henare not to go away— 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson) 
: Order! 
RON MARK 
: That is not an enhanced performance. 
Hon Tau Henare 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I do not think it is right for a member to mention when another member is leaving the Chamber or coming into it or his or her absence from the House. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson) 
: The member is absolutely right and he will notice that I called the member to order. In fact that was under Speaker’s ruling 23/8. 
RON MARK 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. The member was still in the House. How could I refer to a member being absent from the House when he was still here to raise a point of order? Time immemorial will show that that was a ridiculous ruling. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson) 
: The member will be seated. I as well inferred from what you said that the member was leaving the House. The member was concerned about that and there the matter rests. 
RON MARK 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. With all due respect to you and to your position—a position I actually voted for you to have because I respect you—I ask that you deliberate in private on the ruling you have just quoted and see whether any reference whatsoever was made to the impending possible departure of a member who indeed might not depart the House. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson) 
: I have applied the principle of Speaker’s ruling 23/8 and I want to let the matter rest there. I have made a decision. 
RON MARK 
: I hope Mr Henare is listening with both ears because what we saw over there was not a performance-enhanced performance and neither was it a drug-enhanced performance. It might have been enhanced but it was definitely not performance-enhanced; it was actually quite detrimental—whatever that member has been subjecting himself to over the last 24 hours. 
Might I point out to honourable members of the National Party that we should possibly have been debating this bill last night. What we heard and what the people of New Zealand heard last night—and let there be no mistake—were speeches from all those brand-spanking new members of the National Party who were making what were probably their second contributions to the House and I say to them: “When I start playing the CDs of those speeches you’re gonna look pretty stupid around the country.” New members of this House should be warned that what they say in this House is recorded forever in perpetuity so it is not very smart for them within a month of their being here to make the most banal stupid childish immature speeches thinking they can get away with that in the dead of night—because we have a wonderful thing in this country and this speech right now is being recorded. It can be downloaded on to CD and no doubt will be played at the forthcoming election and so will my remarks on the Sports Anti-Doping Bill. [ 
Interruption 
] 
I am allowed to respond to the interjection Mr Assistant Speaker. Again new members and recently returned members should remember that the rules allow me to respond to interjections and to broaden my debate. If members want to keep chipping then I make the point to them through you Mr Assistant Speaker that they should not follow the lead of people like Mr Henare. He failed. If that is the example they are going to follow then they will all be in serious trouble. 
I will give Mr Henare one little bit of credit. He touched very briefly on youth. This bill is very important because of the forthcoming Commonwealth Games and looking ahead the Olympic Games. Yesterday Parliament hosted an absolutely amazing ceremony in the handing over of the taonga from the former flag bearer of the Winter Olympics team to the chef de mission and from there it will be handed over to whomever is appointed as the new flag bearer for the New Zealand Winter Olympics team. In looking at the DVD that shows how our New Zealand village was set up at the last Olympics in Athens and how our athletes performed one is absolutely filled with pure pride. It is 100 percent New Zealand pure pride. 
New Zealand First people can be forgiven for that—we are quite a nationalistic party. We take pride in the flag and in the performance of our athletes. What we do not take pride in is people who cheat. That is akin to the National Party bringing in the Exclusive Brethren and doping the party’s campaign with $500000 to performance-enhance it. We do not admire cheats. We do not admire people who do underhand things so any legislation that stems that or stamps that out is good. 
But there is a problem that I will reflect on. It was interesting to hear Mr Tim Montgomery say in an interview that one of the reasons he took the drugs he took was that he was told to take them. He did not have time to understand them or learn about them. He did not actually bother himself with considering the implications or looking at the analysis of what he was being told to take. He simply lifted his tongue to have it popped in and that was it. He was relying on his coaches not to put him in a situation that was illegal. That is what he said in an interview that I watched which I think was a CNN interview. 
The problem is that today many of the young people coming through sports training probably do not realise the level of education they will require to be good effective competent and competitive sportspeople in today’s world. There is the possibility that if they do not educate themselves or if they are not educated as well as they should be firstly in the law and secondly on the enhancements and supplements available to them out there they could put themselves into a dubious situation. 
It is not just about supplements and it is not just about enhancing products; it is also about simple things like medicines. I am one of hundreds of thousands of people in New Zealand who suffer from asthma and eczema. What do I use? I use Ventolin and Betnovate—a steroid-based cream is it not? The question I guess one would have to ask if one were an athlete is whether athletes are allowed to use Betnovate. Does that have an effect on their testing regime? Can they use Flixotide? Can they use Betnovate? What types of prescription medicines or treatments are they taking that can have an effect on their testing regime? 
Professional athletes of the likes of Sarah Ulmer and the people who successfully represent New Zealand today on the Olympic circuit are well educated and well informed and they have good staff and a good management team to keep them on the straight and narrow and help them. But today as young people see a career in professional sports and as they look at their heroes winning the Rugby League Tri-Nations in the United Kingdom or competing and blitzing the northern hemisphere on the rugby circuit with the grand slam tour they aspire to be like them. Many of them look at sport as a possible option for a professional career. 
The challenges and attractions of taking supplements that young people should not take will always be there and one cannot help but reflect that possibly what the select committee needs to look at is the sort of educational processes that exist in our schools. I know that Aranui High School in Christchurch set up the first sports academy in order to take in a bunch of kids whose only real interest in life was sport; they were not interested in academia. Those young Maori and Pacific Island kids who flooded into Aranui High School—some came from St Bedes College and some came from St Andrews College; those are the top schools of the district—and moved across to a school that was too brown and too bad for anyone to consider previously were in search of a sports academy training regime that hopefully would put them either into the services the military or the uniformed police or give them a shot at sport somewhere competitively. And those kids have done very very well over the years. I wonder whether those schools will be considering including educational initiatives in their syllabus in order to better inform young people of the dangers surrounding the enhancement of their performances by the use of drugs or medicines. 
This is a good bill. I have only a little time left to speak so I will wind up by simply saying again to those new members of the National Party that when they participate in these debates they should think carefully about how what they say might reflect on them personally when they go back to their districts and face the constituents who voted for them. They should ask themselves one question: “Will I be proud of the speech I just made when it’s played to my constituents by an opposing party candidate on the hustings at the next election?”. [ 
Interruption 
] 
Anne Tolley cannot help herself. She is chipping in again. That is why she lost her seat the first time and it is probably why she will lose it again.