O'Connor Damien: Responsible Gambling Bill — Second Reading 
O'Connor Damien: Responsible Gambling Bill — Second Reading 
[Volume:610;Page:7858] 
Hon DAMIEN O'CONNOR (Minister for Racing) 
: 
 I have to answer some of the clear inaccuracies in the speech made by the previous speaker. This bill is designed to provide clearer accountability and to ensure that the money does go back into communities. If the member would make the effort to read the bill I am sure he would reach the same conclusion. 
I congratulate my colleague George Hawkins on bringing this bill back into the House and overseeing its development. The current gambling legislation is out of date and the Government is taking the necessary steps to address the rapid developments in gambling in recent years. I am confident that we have achieved the appropriate balance that is needed to ensure that we preserve the benefits of gambling while at the same time delivering comprehensive measures to reduce the harm from gambling. For many people gambling is an enjoyable recreational activity and we accept that. 
About one-third of the revenue from non-casino gaming machines is put back into the community in the form of community grants and the Government takes those factors into consideration when it looks at those issues. But problem gambling can be a destructive addiction that pulls families and communities apart. Lately it seems that we have only to pick up the occasional newspaper to see the evidence of the harm that problem gambling can cause society. On a daily basis counsellors are seeing individuals who have defrauded their employers lied and carried out a lot of other unfortunate actions to feed their gambling habits. 
Gambling opportunities have increased hugely in New Zealand over the past decade which has meant that this Government has had to do something about the growing problems. We have six casinos in which to gamble and poker machines can now be found from Kaitaia to Bluff and even so far afield as the Chatham Islands. We have seen the number of machines go up from 8000 in 1994 to more than 25000 this year. That is a significant increase that we have to accept. The number of people seeking help through the telephone helpline has increased markedly as well. In the same period the number of people receiving personal counselling has tripled to almost 3000 clients. Today almost 80 percent of problem gamblers admit that gaming machines have been the primary source of their problem. 
The Responsible Gambling Bill is legislation that for the first time is designed to ensure that the benefits of gambling to the community are balanced against the growing issue of problem gambling in New Zealand. Furthermore by taking a public health approach New Zealand will be a world leader in that field. The Ministry of Health’s integrated problem-gambling strategy will incorporate three main elements to help problem gamblers and their families. As I said they are a public health approach funding problem-gambling services and building up knowledge of problem gambling and what we can do to help people in need. The public health approach focuses on prevention. It aims to prevent gamblers becoming problem gamblers in the first place and to raise public awareness of the risks associated with gambling. The funding of problem-gambling services will assist gamblers and their families who have been harmed by gambling. The ministry will take on a coordinated approach across all those services linking them nationally regionally and on a local basis as well. 
Problem gambling can affect rural areas as well as urban areas and it is important that people right throughout the country have access to assistance wherever they need it. The ministry is currently undertaking a needs assessment of problem gambling that can work in with its strategy. We have some strategies in place. Currently we have a population survey programme including the New Zealand health survey the health behaviours survey and the Pacific drug and alcohol survey which are all designed to assist people in need. That work builds on the extensive consultation carried out in 2002 on the draft national plan for minimising gambling harm. As part of that consultation we held meetings up and down the country to find out the best way of assisting people in need. 
Clayton Cosgrove 
: How many meetings did New Zealand First hold? 
Hon DAMIEN O'CONNOR 
: Not too many given the lack of understanding of the bill currently before the House. I hope that members will make the effort—it is quite a big bill—to read through it and see that we have reached a good point of balance between ensuring that the benefits of gambling come back to the communities—as Mr Catchpole was seeking—and that we move ahead to address the growing problems associated with gambling in this country. 
Problem-gambling services will be funded through the problem-gambling levy which is a levy on the profits of the gambling industry. The levy for each gambling sector will take account of the harm caused by that sector according to data from those seeking help for their gambling problems. It has been scientifically assessed that some forms of gaming with a shorter cycle time like poker machines have a greater tendency unfortunately to tie people to addiction. That is the reality and we must address that. 
I would like to thank the Committee on Problem Gambling Management for the fine work it has done over past years in addressing the issue of problem gambling. Its work will be surpassed by the commission but it has done an invaluable amount of work in building up programmes to assist people who need help. That committee’s positive and helpful approach in dealing with the Ministry of Health will ensure that a seamless transition takes place when we shift responsibility to the Ministry of Health and the new commission. 
It is heartening to see that gambling problems are now being recognised both in this bill and by industry groups themselves. Many industry organisations have taken significant steps to address the problem. The Charity Gaming Association’s code of practice and the TAB itself which has a host-responsibility programme are just two examples of how the gambling industry is moving to address the issue of problem gambling. The comprehensive approach of this bill to maximising the benefit and minimising the harm caused by gambling is something that both this Government and the New Zealand people can be proud of. 
Before I conclude I would like to make a few comments in reference to my responsibilities as Minister for Racing. The bill formally recognises racing club activities as authorised purposes. That means that racing clubs will be able to apply gaming proceeds to promoting controlling and conducting race meetings. The bill also allows the TAB and racing clubs to operate gaming machines in TAB agencies and on course in their own right—provided of course that they satisfy the overall licensing regime. 
I would like to put on record that it is a privilege for the racing industry to be allowed this opportunity to expand but it must use that privilege responsibly. I am sure it will be part of the measures we have put in place through this bill to reduce the harm of problem gambling. Alongside other measures in the bill that provision demonstrates our commitment to the racing industry. As Minister for Racing I am happy to say that it will be a very positive move for the industry. We want to see it thrive but again we want to minimise the harm caused by problem gambling. 
I would like to thank United Future for its cooperation. There are still issues that we disagree on but we have managed to work through some of them with that party. I also thank the Green Party. This bill has been promoted by my colleague George Hawkins and I am sure that its passage through the House will give us good legislation that will both promote the benefits of gambling and address the issues around problem gambling.