Tisch Lindsay: Racing Bill — Instruction to CommitteeCWH In Committee 
Tisch Lindsay: Racing Bill — Instruction to CommitteeCWH In Committee 
[Volume:606;Page:3959] 
LINDSAY TISCH (NZ National—Piako) 
: 
 I refer the Committee’s attention to clause 3 “Purpose”. Clause 3(c) states: “to promote the long-term viability of New Zealand racing.” This bill is about governance and nothing more. In my view it does absolutely nothing to improve the lot of racing. It does not put more money back into stakes and does not help owners or trainers. It is about governance: bringing together the codes and the TAB under one body. There may certainly be savings in terms of administration and I have no qualms about that—I support that—but what we are really looking for and what clause 3(c) provides for is for the bill “to promote the long-term viability of racing.” What the bill does not do— 
Jill Pettis 
: Why didn’t they do this during the select committee process? 
LINDSAY TISCH 
: I am actually making a very important point here about the purpose of this bill. The bill does not identify where the viability the long-term prospects and the growth and investment that we need are. The bill does not deliver on that. It is about governance. 
Hon Annette King 
: It’s not supposed to. 
LINDSAY TISCH 
: Why then do we have clause 3(c) which states: “to promote the long-term viability of New Zealand racing.”? I would have thought the viability of an industry was about where it would be heading in the future economically where it would be positioned in the world and where investment would come from. 
This bill does not—and this is why there are major concerns in the industry—address in any way the viability of the industry or the taxation regimes. However further on it allows opportunities to have pokie machines and we will come to that point in a later part. But one of the areas in which the industry needs to be very focused is on having one vision one plan one industry and accountability of all the codes. One part of that that the industry is looking for is to have as close to an equitable basis in terms of taxation as one could possibly get. 
National’s policy at the last election talked about the depreciation rates on stallions and brood mares. This Government has not moved on that matter. I tell the Minister that it is one of the areas that in terms of viability makes the investment and the greater prospects that this industry needs. There has been no move on or attention given to the shuttle stallions that we have to bring in from overseas. We pay thousands and thousands of dollars—it is all tax deductible; that is fine—but that $800000 or $1 million that we pay in shuttle fees goes off shore. We do not get that money and it is not retained in New Zealand. If we had attractive depreciation rates then there would be investment and people would invest in stallions and brood mares. 
The other area— 
Hon Annette King 
: We did change the depreciation of brood mares. 
LINDSAY TISCH 
: Oh yes. That was done. It was moved from 15 years down to 11 years. OK. We are looking here for— 
Hon Annette King 
: You said we had done nothing. 
LINDSAY TISCH 
: Well the Government removed the GST payable on dead horses. I know that— 
Hon Annette King 
: That’s good. 
LINDSAY TISCH 
: She said: “That’s good.” Oh well here we are. That is the highlight of the Minister’s speech—she removed the GST payable on dead horses. But if we are serious about this industry the Government needs to look further at taxation. I tell the Minister that I have here a very good publication. I do not know whether she or her advisor has had the opportunity to look at it. It is about the taxation of bloodstock in New Zealand and it encompasses all the things that the industry needs to look at in order to be able to grow and create investment. At the end of the day we need to make the industry attractive for the 30000 people involved in it. The stakeholders of this industry are the owners of the horses and the punters—the people who go and put their money on the horses. If we do not have punters we do not have an industry. 
The long-term viability of the racing industry—and I talked about this at the Government Administration Committee—is not covered in this bill. While it sounds very grand to promote the long-term viability of New Zealand racing the bill does not go anywhere because it is about governance. We also need to have some detailed plans of where the Minister will be taking the industry in terms of taxation and the 20 percent duty that is paid in the racing industry versus the level of duty paid in the other gaming industries.