Peters WinstonThird ReadingRt Hon WINSTON PETERS (Minister for Racing): I move That the Racing Industry Bill be now read a third time. When this Government introduced this bill we urged everybody in the industry to make submissions and said that if they did we would seriously listen to them. As a result we have an excellent piece of legislation and for that reason we should like to thank the following people and the organisations who have been instrumental in the development and passage of this bill. First of all the Transport and Infrastructure Committee for its time and effort in taking the time to listen to submissions and the thoughtful way in which it approached the challenges it was presented with. Can I just say that it's quite amazing to see a committee that actually decides that they'll put partisan preferences and prejudices aside and make sure that they work with a whole industry right around the country to ensure that it worked. That's the way that Parliament should operate. So again thank you to those members of the committee. The 900-plus submitters that considered and then subsequently contributed to the strengthening of the bill have to be thanked as well. Those officials who provided advice throughout its development we wish to thank them and then RITA—the Racing Industry Transition Agency—for its work in guiding the development of this bill and for ensuring the industry is ready for such dramatic change. We should also note our appreciation for the report written by Mr John Messara on the state of the New Zealand racing industry and dare I say it we could probably thank Thaddeus McCarthy. Justice Thaddeus McCarthy way back in 1970 presented a report which got met with an ocean of parochialism and thereafter not much happened to help the industry along. One could react with optimism or one could react with despair with respect to the parlous health of our racing industry that he identified. When John Messara made his report it was actually sad to think that after all those decades of a similar report way back in 1970 nothing had been done. So one could react with despair or one could react with optimism that the Messara review established a pathway to save racing and allow it to reach its full potential and the Government chose the latter. This bill is that catalyst for a better future for racing in New Zealand. This bill empowers the industry to shape its own destiny. The TAB—that's TAB NZ—will be the sole betting operator for racing and sports. The three racing codes will have greater responsibility for future growth of their respective areas. Racing New Zealand will be a forum for collaboration on behalf of the codes and other industry organisations and an updated integrity system will be implemented by the new Racing Integrity Board—that's the RIB—including responsibility for animal welfare but also with respect to animal welfare with the money going in every year to make racing and racing surfaces and the circumstances of racing safer and safer. Then the vexed issue of racetrack consolidation has a new process to follow which gives due consideration for smaller venues and community interests. This bill enables the codes to reach agreements with offshore providers allowing the use of their betting information and last along with agreements with TAB NZ the codes are now in a position to maximise the value of intellectual property. The select committee work on this debate illustrates which members of Parliament dare I say it have a genuine knowledge of and interest in racing. Not all of us but there's some of us across the political divide who do have a genuine interest in and a love of racing and share that down through the millennium with an association with horses. There's something special about it and I do admire those members who grasp it and those who just think when they go to the racecourse on a day when everybody is in their finery that somehow everything's fantastic. We understand what it's like at 4 o'clock in the morning with a shovel shovel-ready to make an industry work and we also understand the tens of thousands of young men and women who just want a job working with horses. You can offer them everything else and every alternative but that's what they want—just to work with horses. Those members who are generally from provincial areas understand and have a rapport with local clubs or have past business experience and they all understand the contribution racing brings. Other members may not be as I said so personally invested in racing but hold genuine views about small communities. Can we say the bill has never been designed to threaten their interests. It's designed to protect what we have and to stop a spiral of decline as well as creating options for a better future. To all of those members who have been both recognised and acknowledged today and to those members who recognised and understood the submissions and who helped develop the bill let us thank you for your contribution. You have lent us a hand to develop a seriously good piece of legislation. This bill has arrived just in the nick of time. COVID-19 presented a seriously existential challenge to racing. Of course racing was in big trouble a long time before we ever saw COVID-19 and I must recognise though that the racing industry and RITA need to be acknowledged and thanked for their exemplary response somewhat helped by the Government's rescue package. Now with the passage of this bill the racing industry has every opportunity to be successful and grow this industry for the benefit of our regions our communities and our economy. This was not going to be part of my speech but I want to say this: we need to get people involved in racing to actually understand that it's entertainment and it's a business and that all the standards can be maintained and when we do that in New Zealand—break the mould so to speak—we'll start to achieve the kind of performance you see say in Ireland where the thoroughbred industry is worth about $3.2 billion. We've been sitting on $1.6 billion for a long long time. We've got to turn that around and also at the same time turn our export futures around as well. Having said that it was so exciting to see the other day in Seoul a recent export package coming out of New Zealand of three horses that were in this one big race in Seoul in South Korea. One horse came first the second horse—obviously—came second and the fifth horse was also a New Zealand horse and it's also generated a terrible lot of excitement in South Korea about where these horses came from. What does it mean? Well it means that if we're going to come back from the COVID-19 devastation economically we've got to take every export opportunity that we can and the good news is that just overnight we learnt how exciting that was alongside of course the Lindsay family's magnificent victory in the UK the other day. It's so exciting to see a horse from this country do the unthinkable and beat the best in Britain. Now having said that this bill has been a triumph for the way a select committee should work. It's been a triumph for common sense and a triumph of reason. Therefore I commend the bill to the House.