Cunliffe David: General DebateText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeCunliffe David: General Debate[Sitting date: 15 May 2013. Volume:690;Page:9951. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE (Labour—New Lynn): It is always amusing when National puts up its D-team in the general debate. “Little National-no-friends” is what we are looking at over there. There is no John Banks or at least not for long; there is no Māori Party or not for long; there is already no Mana in more ways than one; and now not even Aaron Gilmore can be bothered sticking around as National’s polling inexorably sinks towards the magic number of 39 percent. Beware two things: the firstis “Bring Back Winston” and the second as they shudder in their twinsets and pearls—remember this gentlemen and ladies—is if Judith Collins is the answer what on earth is the question?Today the Labour Opposition has got to note a very sad day in New Zealand politics. It is the announcement of an extremely dodgy deal around the Skycity convention centre. The convention centre deal is built on a foundation of—and I do not use this word lightly—dishonesty. It is dishonesty that it would not cost taxpayers a cent when there was a multimillion-dollar slush-fund subsidy for Skycity in the design and dishonesty in the fact that the Ministry of Economic Development would not release the records of its multiple meetings with Skycity. It was behind closed doors just like John Key’s meeting with the Skycity board. It was dishonesty about nothing being dodgy in how John Key personally suspended the proper process which had four bidders and only Skycity got a look in. That was dishonesty in the words of the Auditor-General’s office which said it was “flawed” and “unfair” that “the SkyCity proposal was always going to be the most attractive” that it was not “transparent or even-handed.” and that that applied to both Ministers and officials.It is dishonest to say that there is going to be a sinking lid on pokies in Auckland when they have just voted for another 230 of them and 20 more gaming tables. It is dishonest to say that the criminal ticket-in ticket-out technology will reduce problem gambling. The reason it is illegal is that it gives the casino so much information about the gamblers so that it knows what buttons to push to get them addicted. It is dishonest to say that there will be no cost to the country to plonk the hulking pokie palace right on top of Television New Zealand. Who is paying for that? It is dishonest of Peter Dunne to feign concern saying that the Government “did play very fast and loose at times.” with the deal when he holds the casting vote. This is Peter Dunne’s palace as well as John Key’s.There is egregious dishonesty in claiming that Labour did the same thing in 2001 because it was none other than Judith Collins who was the then chair of the Casino Control Authority which used a law that National passed and Labour abolished—just like her office—to put through the last increase in pokie machines. There is one more dishonesty that tops them all. It is the mother of all rorts and that is the dishonesty of using Government legislation to give a gold-plated guarantee of compensation to a private company. That is a slippery slope in our constitution. There is dishonesty in the numbers. As David Shearer has said Skycity has hit the jackpot. By KordaMentha’s estimates it can make up to $530 million on a $402 million outlay. That is a 32 percent premium for a no-risk investment and it still owns the building at the end of the 35-year gold-plated period.This is a very sad day for New Zealand’s democracy. The Government has already sold the law onThe Hobbit to Warner Bros. It has already sold the rules about spectrum licensing to MediaWorks. Now it is selling the gambling laws about casinos to a casino. It is giving the casino a gold-plated guarantee. It is selling our law. It is compromising the sovereignty of Parliament. But I have got news for this Government: those laws that can be made can be unmade. Any future Government can repeal the compensation provisions and deal with the issues in the interests of New Zealanders as it is required to do. Let us be very clear. The Labour Party has no truck with the dishonesty that is on display from this Government. We are willing to bet that neither do New Zealanders.