Cunliffe David: New Zealand International Convention Centre Bill — Third ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeCunliffe David: New Zealand International Convention Centre Bill — Third Reading[Sitting date: 12 November 2013. Volume:694;Page:14551. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE (Leader of the Opposition): What an unusual third reading speech for a Minister of Finance and a Deputy Prime Minister. I mean I am sure people out there in TV land understand that third reading speeches are supposed to be where a senior Minister takes a principled approach to summarising the reasons that a Government is doing this or that piece of legislation summarises the arguments for and thus convinces the public. But what a bizarre effort. I mean most of it was talking about the fact that the total number of pokies was falling under Labour’s sinking lid but of course Skycity’s share is rising because this Government does not like RSAs itdoes not like the footie clubs and it does not even like the racing clubs. It does not like community gaming. It likes it only when it is big boys’ wide boys’ gaming at the big end of town because that is its way.This Government is not focused on building a productive economy that all New Zealanders can benefit from. It is focusing on feathering its own nest. You have only to read the paper to see how that party feathers its own nest and it is feathering the nests of the big end of town with this legislation. The name Skycity is entering into National’s hall of shame alongside Warner Bros MediaWorks Rio Tinto the shabby Snapper 1 deal potentially Chorus if Mr Key gets his way and of course the shame we have heard about today with Pike River and the deal that has been cut for New Zealand Oil and Gas which should have paid out those poor families. These are the companies that my opponent has done his deals with. He has sold the law. He has bailed out big business and he has acted against the interests of New Zealand families. In the case—Hon Dr Nick Smith: What did you say to them? What did you say to Skycity privately?Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE: What do I say to Skycity? I say this to Skycity: “We will not abide by the compensation clauses of that contract. We will regulate against gaming harm. We will preserve the mana and the authority of the New Zealand Parliament and we will not do a dirty deal to indemnify money-laundering and profiteering which Treasury and the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment have said are at risk under this deal.” That is what we will say to Skycity Dr Smith. If you had been so awake you would have banned shark finning months ago Mr Smith.In the case of Skycity the Prime Minister’s personal style if we can call it that is on display for the world to see. Business calls him a map with no compass. He is known colloquially as “Trader John” and there is nothing—nothing—that he would not trade. Do not take my word for it—do not take my word for it. Read the independent report by the Deputy Auditor-General because the Prime Minister has been up to his eyeballs in this deal. He kicked it off over a dinner with Skycity executives and very soon after that he intervened in the departmental process run by the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment. The Deputy Auditor-General said that the process of Skycity getting the contract to build the convention centre was “flawed”. It was not “transparent or even-handed”. The report established deficiencies on the part of both Ministers and officials. The Ministers of course were Mr Key and Mr Joyce—the maestro of business management. Mr Key said that he was totally vindicated by the report. He cannot have read it—he cannot have read it because there is no vindication in that.So what has the Government actually agreed to? Well there is a problem. The public does not know because the full text of this shady shabby deal has never been made public. [Interruption] There is an old saying in politics which is that sunlight is the best disinfectant Dr Smith.Hon Dr Nick Smith: Just tell us what you are going to do.Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE: I just did Dr Smith. Sunlight is the best disinfectant. Table the deal. Table the contract. Let New Zealanders see it for themselves. Minister if you cannot put up button up because this is not something that the New Zealand public is prepared to put up with.This deal gives Skycity a substantial extension to the term of its licence. It allows for 230 extra pokie machines 40 extra gaming tables a further 12 tables with a swap table that seats up to 20 players 17 percent more electronic gaming machines and the famous ticket-in ticket-out gambling system that allows in the words of the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment potential money-laundering. Do not take it fromus—take it from the Minister’s own officials’ warning about potential money-laundering as a result of this shabby shoddy stinking deal.Mr Key met with Skycity repeatedly. He had five meetings in 2009. You can see the minutes. He said: “You’ve got to close off the Skycity angle first before you involve any other bidders.” I wonder what that meant. In June 2000 he said: “My office has had no correspondence no discussions no involvement” in the tendering process. That is pretty hard to reconcile when he has just instructed his own officials to close off the Skycity deal first. Well we are learning a lot about the modus operandi of “Trader John” who would trade the law to a movie company trade the law to a casino send the RSAs and the footie clubs down the river as they endure the sinking lid while the big end of town the wide boys in their alligator shoes they get preferential treatment from this nest-feathering nest of Nats—this nest-feathering nest of Nats. This is a common problem with Governments. It sets in normally in their third term but these folks have it early. They have got it halfway through their second term. That is why their second term will be the last. On the mantelpiece they may have the trophies of Warner Bros they may have the trophies of Skycity but they will not have the confidence of the New Zealand public.What would Labour do? Well here is the clear message to the business community. Under Labour there will be one set of rules for all again—not one set for John Key’s best mates and another for everybody else. Do you know a prominent chief executive officer came up to me and said: “You know the trouble with this Skycity deal is we do not know how to get business done in this town any more. It seems like you’ve got to be a special friend of the Government.” Well I know they have been out doing a lot of fund-raising but that is no excuse for this kind of travesty.Labour will regulate to prevent gaming harm. We will not compensate for the normal regulatory functions of Government. If the convention centre is half built we are not going to dynamite it. We are not going to rip up the contract that enforces it. But we will make sure that the proper anti-gaming functions of Government are upheld and there will be no compensation for the normal processes of Government. That means no guarantee of extra gaming tables no guarantee of extra pokies and certainly no guarantee of compensation. We will regulate to protect New Zealanders—we will regulate to protect New Zealanders. I cannot be any clearer than that. If the National Party and its cronies cannot understand that the incoming Labour Government will stand up for the rule of law—the rule of law—and the interests of New Zealand families then we cannot help them. We cannot help them because there cannot be a plainer distinction than that.The folks upstairs and the folks out in TV land understand that this is all about trading and about gambling but it is gambling with New Zealanders’ futures not just the Russian roulette at the gaming tables themselves. Let us not gamble with New Zealand’s future. Let us not set a precedent where we will once again sell the law to the big end of town. Let us preserve Parliament’s right to regulate in the interests of all New Zealanders.