Turei Metiria: New Zealand International Convention Centre Act 2013 Repeal Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeTurei Metiria: New Zealand International Convention Centre Act 2013 Repeal Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 22 July 2015. Volume:707;Page:5229. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]METIRIA TUREI (Co-Leader—Green): I want to thank Tracey Martin for the New Zealand International Convention Centre Act 2013 Repeal Bill and for the opportunity to vote in favour of it. It has long been Green Party policy to oppose and repeal the New Zealand convention centre legislation. You have to remember that the only reason the original legislation exists in the first place is that Skycity—which had been fighting for some 20 years for more pokie machines more gambling tables and an extended licence—finally managed to do a dirty deal with the National Government to make it happen and the Government had to change the law. The legislation has nothing to do with a convention centre. Let us be really clear. The legislation just sets out how to change the law to give Skycity Casino 230 more pokie machines 40 more gambling tables cashless gaming opportunities—Ron Mark: What do you call that?METIRIA TUREI: —that is right; what do you call that—and a 35-year extension on its licence. That is what the first piece of legislation does and what Tracey Martin’s bill does is repeal that and quite rightly. We must remember that Skycity has spent a lot of money and fought the Gambling Commission for many years to get all of those concessions. The content of those concessions—the 230 pokies the 40 gambling tables the 35-year licence—essentially creates an entirely brand new casino in Auckland. It is the equivalent of the Dunedin and Queenstown casinos combined. So it is a very significant casino that will now be created in Auckland as a result of the original legislation. And Aucklanders do not want it. Aucklanders do not want a casino that large. They do not want that and not only did they say they did not want that casino they have now been locked out of the resource consent hearings for the convention centre that delivers that casino.Let us remember: the convention centre is simply a cash delivery device to the casino. That is why it is going to do it this way. Skycity will build this convention centre and bring people in. Skycity now has the right to build a 300-bed hotel on highly valuable Television New Zealand land. Those people are going to come in; they are going to stay at Skycity’s hotel; they are going to walk through tunnels to the Skycity Casino which will be expanded with even more retailers included within those four walls; and then they will go to the convention centre during the day—back past all the retailers within the Skycity envelope to the significantly expanded casino and back to the Skycity hotel. All that this original legislation on the convention centre does is deliver more customers and more money to Skycity.What does it also deliver? It also delivers significantly more harm to Auckland families and Auckland businesses. For a number of years KPMG was recording gambling as one of the reasons for significant employee fraud. It did this for a number of years until frankly we started talking about it in the context of this legislation. It was recording the degree to which gambling—gambling was like fifth or fourth—was increasing in the reasons as to why people were stealing from their businesses and stealing from their employers. It was in order to gamble. It is an increasing problem in Auckland. We have seen so many examples of people who have spent hundreds of thousands of other people’s dollars at the casino in order to feed a gambling addiction. What does National what does John Key deliver to Auckland? They deliver a smaller convention centre and a much bigger casino which creates enormous problems for the families who live and work in Auckland and the businesses. Tracey Martin is doing the country—and Auckland in particular—an enormous favour a great deal of good by forcing us to yet again reflect on the dirty deal that was done between National and Skycity over the convention centre which was always designed to deliver a larger casino for a longer licence to Skycity. Let us not ever forget that. Thank you.