PARLIAMENTARY REPORT
perform their duties…is really critical to not only fulfilling your job as a Member of Parliament but also ensuring that we have a healthy democracy.” The Bill also imposes new
reporting requirements on travel and accommodation costs and parties’ use of the inter-parliamentary relations programme. Mr Chris Auchinvole, MP, (National) said: “It is important that the public has confidence in the regime for setting entitlements. The Bill puts more power in the hands of independent decision-makers appointed to do the job. The Speaker and the government have already taken several steps to improve transparency around entitlements, and this Bill takes that a step further and sets it in legislation.”
New Zealand International Convention Centre Bill The New Zealand International Convention Centre Bill, which passed its Third Reading in a personal vote on 12 November, gives legal effect to an agreement between the government and Skycity Entertainment Group Ltd. Skycity will build a $402 million convention centre near the site of its casino in Auckland and
NEW ZEALAND
230 single terminal gaming machines and 40 gaming tables and to operate cashless, card- based technology and ticket-in, ticket-out technology. Deputy Prime Minister Hon.
Bill English, MP, outlined the economic benefits of the agreement, saying: “The Bill will enable the construction
and the 1,000 that [Ministers] talk about.”
Citing the Deputy Auditor-
General’s report into the process leading up to the government’s decision to negotiate solely with Skycity, Mr Andrew Williams, MP, (New Zealand First) said: “The Auditor-General concluded that Skycity got special treatment…after the Prime Minister personally intervened and had meetings with Skycity. The Auditor-General’s office determined that Skycity was treated very differently to others tendering for the contract.” Leader of the Opposition, Hon.
Hon. Bill English, MP Ms Metiria Turei, MP
operate it for 35 years. In return, the government is extending Skycity’s casino licence until 2048 and granting regulatory concessions, including allowing the casino to add an additional
of [a] convention centre that seats up to 3,500 delegates. This will be achieved with very little, if any, investment by New Zealand taxpayers.” In response to Opposition criticism in earlier readings about the benefits to Skycity, Mr English compared the Bill to Treaty of Waitangi settlements and the Rugby World Cup legislation, adding that “many pieces of legislation confer benefits on a particular party or activity”, and noting that “the government could not function if contracts did not extend past the ending of particular governments”. He also drew attention to provisions in the agreement requiring Skycity to pay compensation to the government if it breached its operating standards. Ms Metiria Turei, MP,
(Co-Leader, Green) queried the government’s claims about the agreement’s economic benefits, particularly the job numbers: “There might be around 350 jobs in construction [and] 300 jobs maybe in the operation of [the centre]—certainly not the 800
64 | The Parliamentarian | 2014: Issue One
David Cunliffe, MP, (Labour) said that under a future Labour Government “there will be one set of rules for all again”. He also said: “Labour will regulate to prevent gaming harm…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.” The Bill passed its third
reading by 61 to 59.
Social housing reform The Social Housing Reform (Housing Restructuring and Tenancy Matters Amendment) Bill introduced under urgency on 16 May was passed under urgency on 19 November. Introducing the Third Reading, the Minister of Housing, Hon. Dr Nick Smith, MP, (National) said it contained “the biggest changes that have occurred in 75 years in the way in which the government provides housing for our citizens with the greatest need”. Among the Bill’s significant
changes were provisions for reviewable tenancies, making income-related rent subsidies available for the first time to community housing providers, and the transfer of assessment
leader and the prime provider in affordable housing and social housing in this country”. Ms Turei emphasized that the community housing providers “are not being properly funded and cannot cope with the influx”. However, Mr Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga, MP, (National) said: “we know that the community housing sector does a far better job than Housing New Zealand does to work with the needs of the disabled, to work with the needs of the mentally ill, and to have the wraparound services.” Mr Denis O’Rourke, MP,
(New Zealand First) was concerned that the policy of reviewable rentals was “based solely on the assessed ability of tenants to move into private
of need and eligibility for State housing and income-related rent subsidies from Housing New Zealand to the Ministry of Social Development. During the Committee of the whole House Dr Smith had commented that “at heart is a position by the government that says that social housing is for the period of need, as compared with an Opposition that says that social housing is for life”. Hon. Maryan Street, MP,
(Labour) said the Bill “transfers money to the third sector for housing purposes, which we do not oppose, but we wish it were sufficient and not simply an abrogation of the government’s own responsibility to be the
Hon. Maryan Street, MP
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