Robertson Grant: New Zealand International Convention Centre Bill — In CommitteeText is subject to correctionRobertson Grant: New Zealand International Convention Centre Bill — In Committee[Sitting date: 07 November 2013. Volume:694;Page:14498. Text is subject to correction.]GRANT ROBERTSON (Labour—Wellington Central): This bill is the innocuously named the New Zealand International Convention Centre Bill. It sounds like a lovely idea except it is not the right title. The correct title here is the “Skycity Crony Capitalism (Looking After Their Mates by the National Party) Bill” because that is what this bill should be called. We have just been voting through the schedules—Hon Phil Goff: That’s a long title.GRANT ROBERTSON: That is a long title. Long titles also were got rid of 20 years ago Mr Goff. But if we were actually to look at the schedules that we have just been voting on we would see that they contain the guts of what is in this agreement. It is important in what I suspect will be one of my final contributions on this bill to actually remind members of the public what it is that is being given away here. What is being given away here is a massive extension out to 2048 to the licence for Skycity. Within that period the two reviews required under the Gambling Act are dispensed with. Secondly we have an additional 230 single terminal gaming machines. We have an additional 240 automated gaming table terminals. We have an additional 12 further gaming tables. We have the introduction of cashless gaming machines. We have theticket-in ticket-out provisions which have been put up by the officials as having the possibility of allowing for money-laundering. Those are the concessions. Those are the things that in this bill mean that the title is inappropriate because they directly contradict the Gambling Act.They are the things that make this bill not about an international convention centre but about crony capitalism—about one firm one company in New Zealand being treated differently from the rest of the companies in New Zealand. That started on the very first day. That started when the Prime Minister wrote on top of the officials’ briefing note “Cover off the Skycity angle.” At that moment the crony capitalism button was pushed and the Government’s officials went off into a separate line of negotiations with Skycity. Skycity then got more information about the process than other bidders did. It was invited to put in proposals that other bidders were not invited to put in place. At that point the process was rorted the process was wrong and that was at the direction of John Key the Prime Minister—the crony capitalist in chief John Key—who came across the top of a process to build an international convention centre in Auckland and did a deal. He did a dodgy deal. He is up to his neck in it and that should be reflected in the title of this bill. So that is the first step at which things went wrong.Then the legislation to do this was introduced in the House and I spoke about it last night. In clause 6(2) of this bill we have the sight of the National Government deciding to override the laws of this land via its dodgy backroom deal. The Gambling Act and associated gambling legislation is ridden roughshod over by this law. This is no ordinary piece of law coming to this House; it is a law that justifies the Government’s dodgy backroom deals. It rides roughshod over other legislation and it puts in place concessions that go against the Gambling Act.There is no doubt whatsoever that gambling harm will be increased by this legislation. The Government has actually acknowledged that by not amending the Gambling Act where its purpose is to reduce gambling harm. It cannot do that because this bill increases gambling harm. Up to 5000 extra problem gamblers will be created as a result of this with all the flow-on effects through our communities through families and through people who face the horrible addiction that is class 4 gambling in particular on the pokie machines. This is a bill that has the potential to increase money-laundering through Skycity. It introduces types of gambling that across the world have seen increases in problem gambling.This bill should not be before this House. This bill goes against the principles that New Zealanders believe in—about how laws should be made and that a Government will actually look after its citizens. The Government is not here to do deals with its mates; the Government is here to protect New Zealand citizens and ensure that they can go about their daily lives knowing that the Government is there for them. We might not agree with every single thing that the party opposite does but what we expect is that it will bring legislation to this House that supports and protects the rights of New Zealand citizens. That is not what the Government has done here. It has brought a piece of legislation to this House that favours one company and that goes against the values of New Zealanders. It is a shameful piece of legislation.