McAnulty KieranKIERAN McANULTY (Labour): Talofa lava Madam Assistant Speaker. We have been treated today to a pantomime on the other side of the House. The question is: does the National Party support this bill? On one side of the National Party they say Oh no we don't." but on the other side of the National Party they say "Oh yes we do." because over there on that side of the House they have no idea what they are talking about. There are members standing up and saying that this is a travesty of a bill and then you've got David Bennett standing up and saying that he supports the bill and that he congratulates the Government for doing what he was doing. So you've got a bloke claiming credit for the bill and the bloke standing next to him the Hon Gerry Brownlee—who didn't even know where Trentham was—is pretending to know about racing. I suggest that the Hon Gerry Brownlee is getting some practice in because very soon he'll be a backbencher and he'll have to get used to talking about things he doesn't know anything about. This bill is very important for the racing industry and I would say to those that are involved—just like myself who worked in the racing industry in Ireland and New Zealand—the thousands of people who work in the racing industry now and the thousands of punters to take the opportunity to listen to the National Party's speeches today. You will hear the Hon Nick Smith call the gambling industry corrupt you will hear the Hon Gerry Brownlee call racing boring and then—ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Poto Williams): Order! Order! You're sailing a little close to the wind there Mr McAnulty. KIERAN McANULTY: I apologise Madam Assistant Speaker. You're right. Even if they say it I shouldn't repeat it—you're dead right. The point here—ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Poto Williams): No no that's just compounding the issue. Let's just get back to the matter at hand. Thank you. KIERAN McANULTY: You're dead right. This bill here gives the industry what they've been screaming out for for ages. Rural and regional New Zealand rely on the racing industry in many respects and our economy in many respects relies not only on the racing industry now but on the potential that it has to fulfil in years to come. But in the entirety of the previous Government the racing industry was screaming out for support and then in the dying days of the last National Government they finally brought a bill in which the Hon David Bennett said was going to be its saviour and the Hon Gerry Brownlee said was useless as did many other speakers. Then you've got the scaremongering. You've got the Hon Nikki Kaye saying that sports are going to miss out and then you've got Ian McKelvie and David Bennett saying that sports are an important part of gambling and that this bill is going to assist the wider racing industry. Make their minds up—that is the message to the National Party today. They should make their minds up. They should read the bill they should know what they're going to say and they should make their minds up. Even if they don't know what's in the bill for the love of God at least say the same things. You mustn't have the same members from the same party criticising each other and contradicting each other because it sends a very clear message. When the racing industry looks at this Government's bill and looks at the Government's stance—total unison total support and getting behind that industry—they have a very clear choice. They've got an Opposition who doesn't care doesn't know and doesn't give them the respect that they deserve and they've got a Government led by the Minister for Racing here in this instance who is actually delivering to be the saviour of this industry."