New Zealand First fights for Racing Amendment Bill to be passed
IT’S no secret the New Zealand racing industry is in need of some serious financial help and there appears to be only one political party willing to stand up.
The Racing Amendment Bill was first heard on Tuesday to a relatively empty parliament in which New Zealand First MP Clayton Mitchell made a serious push against the Green Party to get the bill passed.
The bill looks into many aspects of the New Zealand racing sector, but focuses on improving the competitiveness of the New Zealand Racing Board (NZRB) and the betting operations which will require offshore bookmakers to pay to use New Zealand information and also pay a fee when they take bets on both racing and sporting events in New Zealand.
The advertisement of offshore bookmakers is illegal in New Zealand, but a deal was struck years ago which stated that these Australian bookmakers such as CrownBet and Sportsbet could use the information sent by the NZRB and also take bets on New Zealand racing, but the deal was supposed to go two ways.
The current government has made little effort to ensure New Zealand racing stays above water and the Racing Amendment Bill, which should have been passed nine years ago, will help generate income which therefore supports the struggling industry.
Clayton Mitchell was baffled as to why such an important bill could be put to the wayside for so long, while many of the industries participants are struggling to make ends meet. He responded to National MP Ian McKelvie’s claims that it’s hard to extract money from overseas.
“Mr McKelvie said it’s complicated, he tried to justify as to why it’s taken so long to get this legislation in front of house, it’s taken nine years,” Mitchell said.
“We had the Offshore Racing and Sports Betting Working Group, which is the only thing Nathan Guy can take credit for doing in his six years as racing minister.
Mr McKelvie said its complicated to extract money from overseas, well it’s not complicated when you largely copy and paste legislation that they already have in place in Australia… so how can he justify how long it’s taken to get here?
“They’ve got it across the Tasman, we’re already paying those fees.”
The term “Harm minimisation” has been thrown around parliament by both the Greens and Labour when it comes to gambling, despite the fact that more money into the economy from these offshore bookmakers will help ensure the harmful gambling bodies get more funding to help.
“The Greens are worried about harm minimisation, it’s the latest buzzword,” Mitchell said. “If you look at the harm of gambling, we are actually in a minimal state right now.
“This bill enables more money into the industry to create better infrastructure for harm minimisation, so to use that argument to not support this bill is absolute lunacy, which we would expect I dare have to say.”
New Zealand First made the effort in its ten-point plan to show how many jobs are at stake in the racing industry, which Mitchell believes is a part of the fabric that makes up the New Zealand culture.
“Let me give you some positives for the racing industry, because it sounds not so positive when you listen to the Greens,” Mitchell said in response to Barry Coates.
“The racing industry involves about 52,000-plus people every year and a lot of those are volunteers. It employs over 17,000 people and contributes $1.6 billion towards our economy.
“Over 1000 race meetings, over 1 million people a year – families and communities are going to these racing events.
“It was part of our culture. Rugby, racing and beer. That’s not for everybody, but that makes up a big part of it.”
There has been a lack of action from the past racing ministers since Winston Peters left the job. Peters ensured more stake money was put into racing and the global profile was increased – something the ministers since have failed to capitalise on.
It’s a sad state of affairs when the racing minister doesn’t bother to ensure that the Racing Amendment Bill, which could help save racing in New Zealand, wasn’t brought before the house much sooner.
“This industry is in crisis, this industry has been in crisis for nine years,” Mitchell said. “It’s not pointing the bone at Mr Bennett, because he’s only been in the job for three months, but what we do have to look at is the nine long years we have waited for substantial change in the racing industry.
“We’ve seen four racing ministers in that time… six years with Nathan Guy at the helm and now three months with David Bennett, who has been given a hospital pass.
“The biggest disgrace about Mr Bennett is that he didn’t fight hard enough to get this bill through this house, because this is absolutely what the industry needs. It’s in the weeds because of lack of direction and drive from ministers we’ve had.
“They’ve been asleep at the wheel and it’s time for change.”
Winston Peters was racing minister from 2005 to 2008 and leading New Zealand breeders, Sir Patrick Hogan, described Peters as the best racing minister New Zealand has had.
“He is the best racing minister New Zealand has ever had,” Hogan said in 2009. “He’s done a wonderful job and I just hope whoever wins the next election will keep him on.”
Unfortunately, Peters was replaced by passionless non-racing types which couldn’t see the value of the industry for what it was worth. Peters is back again this election year and we’re confident he will attract support from the NZ racing public.
“The only time we saw change was between 2005-2008 and that then minister was the Right Honourable Winston Peters,” Mitchell said. “He didn’t boast that he was going to fix the industry, he got in there quietly and made opportunities for the industry which is a poster child for added value exports.”
The added value exports Mitchell talks about is the money the New Zealand Government and racing industry could be making from the offshore bookmakers which aren’t paying any fees for taking action on New Zealand racing events.
New Zealanders are betting with offshore operators more and more every year, and we don’t blame them, but New Zealand needs to benefit from the action heading elsewhere.
“The 58 million that New Zealand is currently spending online with our Australian brethren is money and opportunity lost that New Zealand should be getting,” Mitchell said. “We have over 300 million of offshore bets which we should be clipping the ticket on.
“The Aussies had this right years ago. They approached New Zealand and we said, ‘that makes sense, we’ll pay for our share to your bookmakers and your online gamblers, we just expect that to be reciprocated’ but it doesn’t take nine years, there’s no excuse.
“This industry is full of passionate people. horse trainers, vets, those people that get up at 5am to shovel around you know what. Its a lifestyle that goes generations deep. Its an industry in crisis. Without these poster child industries in our government, we’re going to be in a dire situation.”
Mitchell also reflected on the breeding industry and how New Zealand’s top thoroughbred stock are being sold overseas.
“We’re won of the top 5 counties in the world, yet we’re selling off so much of our quality bloodstock to keep the industry afloat. Our mares and our fillies need to be retained, it needs to be profitable,” Mitchell said.
“It’s a $1.6 billon industy with huge amounts of scope and opportunity to develop – all it needs is the right government support to get in behind it.
“We’ll have this mess cleaned up if we get into the opportunity to be in power to make those changes. We’ve done it before with the Right Honourable Winston Peters and we’ll do it again.”
Clayton Mitchell is dedicated to the gambling industry being a past and present owner of pokies bars.Hardly the person to be commenting on problem gambling.NZFIRST displaying no care for the citizens of NZ, only the sharks that trample all over good honest kiwis.
The horse racing clubs certainly need help. This bill that Clayton Mitchell is supporting is well needed. It is a no brainer that the betting industry should be the same on both sides of the Tasman.
We agree Jules. Passed the first reading which is good.