Young Jonathan: Gambling Amendment Bill (No 2) — Third ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeYoung Jonathan: Gambling Amendment Bill (No 2) — Third Reading[Sitting date: 24 February 2015. Volume:703;Page:1858. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]JONATHAN YOUNG (National—New Plymouth): Thank you for the opportunity to speak on this bill. Can I say what an excellent mayoral bid speech that came from Mrs King talking about the great city of Wellington: the cultural centre cafes and galleries. Actually that is what New Plymouth has been called—the emerging cultural centre of heartland New Zealand—so I know what you are talking about.Stuart Nash: By who?JONATHAN YOUNG: Oh by Auckland travel writers of course Mr Nash. Nobody from the East Coast would say that about the west coast I know but only because they have a bias that is misinformed.This is a very important bill to speak about and the Government does realise that there are issues around harm minimisation regarding class 4 gambling that need to be attended to. One of the things that we do understand in this country is that if the Government were not involved in the management of such areas there could be even greater harm. One of the concerns there of course is the online gambling that happens which is unrestricted. So when the Government can look at what happens with pokies right throughout the country and can have appropriate legislation to ensure that there is minimum harm then that is a good thing.The problem gambling levy currently raises $55 million over 3 years to fund services and to minimise the harm caused in communities. This is used on front-line counselling including dedicated services for Māori Pacific and Asian communities. Gambling policy is always a balancing act for the Government. It is worth remembering that many people gamble and do have fun responsibly and the money raised for the community from all types of gambling is also significant. I think my colleague Mark Mitchell mentioned surf life-saving clubs which throughout this country work very hard over the summer seasons. In fact they go to remote beaches where there is hardly any community except during the summer time and they have no ability to fund-raise locally. Yet they are able to receive some sort of benefit from different societies to enable them to continue to serve the New Zealand community on those beaches.We have to say that the behaviour of some of the class 4 gambling societies has been less than the best and has been very disappointing. But there are signs of progress and what this amendment bill does is brings far more attention to the remiss behaviour that has happened and that is good. As time progresses of course technology improves and there are new ways in which somebody can be identified as a problem gambler and there are ways in which mitigation can be put in place. It is very important that there is a very strong and robust process by which the proceeds of gambling are handled. So this amendment bill covers many of those facets to ensure that the benefit that comes from gambling—33 percent of the proceeds—is returned back to the community and that there is not some rorting of the system where the community does not receive that level of benefit.Gambling is with us in our communities and our societies. As I said before online gambling is unmonitored and unmoderated and there is some real concern about that. So it is important that amendment bills such as this make progress to make the potential harm minimised and the benefits to our communities maximised. Thank you.