Guy NathanHon NATHAN GUY (National—Ōtaki): First of all I just would like to acknowledge like other members in the House the tragic circumstances for those tourists and New Zealanders who have lost their lives at White Island or have been injured in that tragic event. Now addressing this bill—this is a very interesting bill. The National Party is going to support it through to first reading but we have some grave concerns about this bill and I wish to address those this afternoon. But first of all I want to say that we realise the importance of the racing industry to the New Zealand economy and to provinces and regions and cities throughout New Zealand. We know the size and scale of the industry. As a former Minister for Racing I know that about 50000 people are associated with the racing industry and some 17000 jobs and the income that the racing and sports betting and the overall industry contributes to the New Zealand economy is around $1.6 billion to $1.7 billion. I read the Messara report with a great deal of interest. What Mr Messara said—some of his points I thought were right on the nose. They were accurate and well considered but he's gone further by saying that the TAB should be floated down the track to allow other investors to come in. I think that is a real concern. In this bill in particular one of the points that grates with the National Party is the blatant property rights whereby the Minister will have a power to be able to say to clubs that have historical property issues that You need to sell down your asset and put it into a consolidated fund." Now that point there is a real issue for a lot of clubs throughout New Zealand. The racing industry has been formed on the backs of volunteers that have worked hard in these provincial and rural racing clubs to support their communities. The fear that we have on this side of the House is that the Minister has snuck a clause into this bill that says if these historical property issues don't get resolved then the Minister will have the power to say "That club is on the market sold and I'm grabbing those proceeds and putting them into a centralised fund." We don't think that is fair and we also encourage those in the racing industry to come forward to the Transport and Infrastructure Committee when this is opened up for public submissions so that they can have their voices heard. The other aspect of this as I talked about in my introductory remarks is indeed about a specific board that's going to oversee the way that the TAB operates. I think what the select committee should do is drill into the detail of who owns the TAB. That question has been asked for decades and the answer will be I think that the Crown does. The industry might say "Well we do." and the sports industry might say "Well we have a stake in that pie as well." I think all of those factors are worth due consideration but fundamentally the TAB in my opinion is owned by the Crown. What this TAB board is going to do is start getting ready for the TAB to be ultimately floated or for an overseas investor to come in and purchase or do some deal on the TAB. I'm wondering how that is going to sit with New Zealand First because in the past they've always been opposed to foreign investment but I know they're quite supportive of it in the forestry industry right now. Let's wait and see through the select committee process what the industry thinks of the TAB board that is going to be specifically focused on getting the TAB ready for some of it to be floated offshore. That will be an interesting consideration as well. The last comment is one that I actually personally support: to allow new betting products to be allowed in this country. It's always been very difficult to get new betting products through this Parliament because there'll be some on this side of the House who are diametrically opposed to gambling and I take that on board. There are others who perhaps have TAB accounts who might bet on a daily basis. So in this Parliament we are a broad church and I think that's going to be an issue that is worthy of further consideration. If you look at the UK they can go and bet on the name of the next royal family member who may not yet be conceived. So I think there is an opportunity for that to be further explored in the select committee. So in summary this bill is important for the racing industry but there is enough of a concern from the National Party that we are going to roll our sleeves up in this select committee and get stuck in and I'm pleased to see that the Minister has not gone for a truncated select committee period—report back is on 17 April next year. That gives enough opportunity. I don't think it necessarily is going to be enough for a lot of people who may mobilise against this bill but I guess they've got the period leading up to Christmas and in January no doubt when the select committee will ask for public submissions. I encourage all of those people that are out there in rural provincial New Zealand who've worked hard on their racing club with blood sweat and tears to support their racing industry—where mum and dad and the kids turn up to one or two events every year and they feel a sense of pride and ownership in their local club—to push back on the Minister to say "We believe that we need to have a due process into any of these historical property issues rather than the heavy hand of the Beehive coming down through an Order in Council and just saying that 'We're going to put your track on the block take those proceeds and put them into a centralised fund.' " Thank you Mr Speaker."