Jones Shane: Major Events Management Bill — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeJones Shane: Major Events Management Bill — In Committee[Sitting date: 22 August 2007. Volume:641;Page:11381. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]SHANE JONES (Labour): Kia ora Madam Chairperson. It is a pleasure to stand to take a brief call on this Major Events Management Bill. During the course of our Commerce Committee proceedings it was good to have a great deal of support and input from the majority Opposition party. There are a few concerns which our friend from the Green Party referred to but they will pass as relatively trivial matters in the greater scheme of things.I make this small contribution on the eve of a departure for great athletic responsibilities following in the footsteps of the Minister in the chair the Hon Trevor Mallard and I look across the Chamber with some sadness that I will not be joined by the heavyweight of the Opposition front bench Mr Brownlee. Unfortunately the pugnacious Mr Foss is wandering around spraying apples in Hawke’s Bay. However other matters require my attention. There is a famous Māori saying in the world of the Ngāpuhi: “The first punch that’s landed had better knock out the opposition because utu has a very very strong kickback.”The legislation in my view improves our credentials. The declaration of a major event enables us and especially the Minister and the Government to promote our credentials in terms of New Zealand being a safe and secure environment for investors advertisers and promoters who will come here knowing that the significant amounts of money they are going to sink into the event will not be frittered away either by weak law or by the inability of the judiciary to arrive at the right decision because of vagueness in the law.In terms of declaring a major event and also ensuring that people put their money on the line those people look with a great deal of anxiety not only at the Minister but also at the relevant ministry to ensure that their proposals and their applications are adequately appraised. I agree with Mr Peachey—a man whom prior to meeting him I had formed quite a favourable view of in relation to his contribution to education at Rangitoto College—when he said that lots of families struggle to find the opportunity to see these events at an affordable level. However these sorts of events will engender a greater level of enthusiasm and may actually shake loose from the corporate world more sponsorship to assist those less fortunate New Zealanders to get their tamariki their kids into sport.This particular event relates to rugby but there are other events. Unfortunately the forces of nature and the politics of yachting conspired against us and the Minister was unable to bring Grant Dalton and other mariners home so we could stage that particular event. However this event given that it is focused on rugby—which is very close to a national religion—will have a positive impact on our families and on our young people. I know there are those who might say that rugby eclipses arts culture and various other pursuits but the reality is that it is a major money earner and a major source of attraction for people wanting to come to our country. So why not pass this bill without a great deal of procrastination and put it on to the face of the law to ensure that our friends in Australia despite their best efforts to hobble us in recent times will actually look at us a bit more admiringly come 2011?Ought this bill give the proposed level of protection to intellectual property or other legal rights? Of course it should. People are not going to invest considerable amounts of money in events in symbols or in signs unless they are confident they will get a return on their investment. And yes there is now a fusion between commerce and sport so they have every right to expect that in our country the rule of contract will be observed and that the judiciary will deliver a speedy result in the event of fly-by-nighters and rorters trying to undermine the rights of investors when we host this highly successfulevent. All going well our major team our national All Black team will emulate the feat that I am sure the parliamentary team will achieve—that is success.Before making a recommendation the Minister for Economic Development must take into account a number of issues. Is it likely that a large number of international participants and spectators will be attracted? That goes without being said because our greatest brand in the area of sport and recreation is undisputedly the brand of our All Blacks. All around the world young people have been encouraged to identify heroes and icons in the sporting area and this is an area in which all New Zealanders can take pride. The members of our team will be an additional attraction—something like a cultural rainbow in the sense that they represent the major groupings that occupy the fields in our urban and provincial areas. They are the tangata whenua our friends from the Pacific and the hearty descendants of the original colonists otherwise known as Pākehās.Will this event generate significant tourism opportunities beyond cavil? Of course it will. Tourism continues to provide an ongoing source of overseas revenue. That is good because it enables us to broaden the base of our GDP and to broaden the base of our international earnings so we do not rely on just our traded commodities from the pastoral sector and leave everything to the whims of the traders of the dollar.Is the event likely to boost our international profile? Well we pride ourselves on punching above our weight. We enjoy seeing our young men and women don our uniforms and represent our country’s interests in relation to international obligations in areas such as the Sinai peninsula and throughout the Pacific. This is another way in which our international profile can be both maintained and extended. Of course it has ongoing spin-offs for younger people and we should think about that in this House because not every young person is going to listen to a parliamentarian telling them to go to university or polytech especially those who are endowed with physical prowess. This provides them with an opportunity to enter networks whereby they can go overseas to Europe and other places earn a living and actually broaden their own life experience by applying their skills on the sports field and in particular on the rugby field. All of these can be spin-offs of this successful event. But the event will not be successful if the people putting their dough on the line are not confident they will be able to get a return or protect their investment—Economics 101.Will this event require a high level of professional management and coordination? That is without doubt. We had a host of people from the Rugby Union come and address us—indeed if my memory serves me correctly we had an English lawyer arrive who came if not from the Rugby World Cup company then certainly from the International Rugby Board. He gave us a clear sense of confidence that our own rugby administrative infrastructure is up to the task. However the levers of the State had to be applied in a reasonable manner to ensure that the administration could go and provide ongoing confidence to the people who have the rights to the Rugby World Cup.Is the event likely to attract sponsorship and international media coverage? That is also without a doubt. The media will be in New Zealand in their droves and the fact that they are here means they will go to places beyond the rugby field. That is good for the provinces and that is good for all the shades and colours of New Zealand because we need at all times to boost the desirability of our country and to ensure that the attractiveness of not only our nature but also our people and our landscape eclipses some of the blighted commentary that comes our way over internal problems to do with whānau violence etc. Let us accentuate the positive.Will the event attract large numbers of Kiwis as participants or spectators? Well I have already said without offending the bishop that Mr Barnett took to a strip club that rugby is akin to New Zealand’s religion. So I have no doubt that people will flock fromthe Bluff—from the tail of the fish—and that some will even come from Magpie country and they will be great participants and spectators. But as my fellow parliamentarian the former principal of Rangitoto College said unfortunately not enough of them will have an opportunity to actually grace the stands. But I look forward to our Rugby Union being able to come up with some sort of innovative proposition to enable more of our young people to go and watch Piri Weepu who hopefully will not have abandoned Aotearoa for rugby league in distant climes grace the field in the place where he ought to be at the moment—Hon Trevor Mallard: Come on Wainuiōmata.SHANE JONES: Yes OK I accept that the Minister as the “member for Wainuiōmata” had a large degree of input into Piri’s—no I will not say form—development. Thank you very much.