Sky City deal – personal vote

Written By: - Date published: 11:52 am, July 10th, 2013 - 30 comments
Categories: business, class war, Ethics, national - Tags: , , ,

Multiple reports on Twitter that Key’s grubby Sky City Bill will be a conscience personal vote. If true, I’m surprised, given the fragile majority Key has on this issue.

Now I guess we get to see if any Nat MPs have a conscience:

Thousands more face gambling harm

Thousands more people could experience gambling harm as a result of concessions for SkyCity in exchange for a new convention centre, documents show.

The Government today released papers discussing the potential harm of the deal after unveiling the final details of the agreement with SkyCity on Saturday.

The casino operator will build a $402 million international convention centre in Auckland, in exchange for an extension of its Auckland casino licence out to 2048, 230 more pokie machines, 40 more gaming tables and new cashless gaming technology.
Currently in New Zealand, there are 2800 gaming machines and 200 gaming tables, with more than 1600 machines and more than 100 tables at SkyCity Auckland.

The concessions will increase nationwide pokie machine numbers by 8.2 percent, while table numbers will increase by 20 percent.
Discussing the potential harm of increased machine and table numbers in early 2011, the Department of Internal Affairs noted 2006/07 figures showing 87,000 adults experienced problems over the previous 12 months due to someone’s gambling. …

Only a fraction of those affected by problem gambling seek help, and the cost of intervention services is only a fraction of the harm costs, which range from poor parenting to crime, lost productivity, family issues and suicide.

Update: This post originally red “conscience vote” and has been updated to “personal vote” thanks to the wisdom of I/S at NRT.

30 comments on “Sky City deal – personal vote ”

  • Comments are now closed

  1. Maggie May 1
    10 July 2013 at 11:59 am

    John Key is being so true to National Party Philosophy , which is

    “we only care about business and if you are a worker you are only there to keep the country working and other than that we don’t give a rats arse about you”.

  2. Brett Dale 2
    10 July 2013 at 12:05 pm

    I guess Labour party MP’s have one, well not when their is a rugby union test on.

  3. the central scutinizer 3
    10 July 2013 at 12:08 pm

    who started this tweet gower or garner?

  4. Lanthanide 4
    10 July 2013 at 12:09 pm

    A conscience vote for National MPs as to whether they want to keep their job after the next election, I guess.

  5. Veutoviper 5
    10 July 2013 at 12:21 pm

    The Herald has just reported that the Speaker has now announced that it will be a conscience vote.

    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10896270

    And Stuff

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/8901117/Conscience-vote-for-pokies

  6. muzza 6
    10 July 2013 at 12:21 pm

    Given they uniformly voted down the – Depleted Uranium Bill, (Pita, where are you Pita) I would not be expecting them to vote against the Shy City deal!

  7. Bearded Git 7
    10 July 2013 at 12:27 pm

    It sounds to me like some of the National MP’s have told Key they couldn’t vote for the casino deal. Key has had his hand forced-the dead sheep are finally showing some backbone. This is why Carter agreed to the conscience vote. Key’s mana among his caucus is sinking.

    • framu 7.1
      10 July 2013 at 12:36 pm

      “Key’s mana among his caucus is sinking.”

      this is an interesting factor – key has always been there as a figure head to win votes – hes not the leader of the party, hes just the frontman. Throw in the different factions and things could get very interesting

  8. weka 8
    10 July 2013 at 2:37 pm

    Just got this email from the GP


    I have just received confirmation from the Speaker of Parliament that tomorrow’s vote on the SkyCity legislation will be a conscience vote.

    I need you to take immediate action now to help get even just a handful of National MPs to vote with their conscience and against the SkyCity legislation.

    Call or email your local National Party MP right now and ask them to vote against gambling harm – http://www.greens.org.nz/misc-documents/contact-these-people

    The Governments own advice is that this legislation will lead to an increase in relationship breakdowns, depression, suicide, reduced work productivity, bankruptcies, and gambling-related crime.

    It’s wrong for John Key to lock us into 35 years of this increased gambling harm.

    Ask your local National Party MP to vote with their conscience – http://www.greens.org.nz/misc-documents/contact-these-people

    It’s up to each and every one of them to vote for the best interests of their communities – not SkyCity.

    MP support for this gambling deal is wafer thin. We have 24 hours to stop it!
    Metiria Turei
    Green Party Co-leader

  9. Wayne 9
    10 July 2013 at 2:59 pm

    As if Metiria is going to influence any National MP’s. In fact her intervention is likely to dissuade any National MP from doing so!

    • One Anonymous Knucklehead 9.1
      10 July 2013 at 3:08 pm

      Is that what your conscience tells you., Dr. Mapp?

    • weka 9.2
      10 July 2013 at 3:08 pm

      It’s not Turei that does the influencing, it’s the people contacting NACT MPs, you know, the voters.

      • Wayne 9.2.1
        10 July 2013 at 3:52 pm

        But Metiria insulting the PM is hardly going to help persuade any Nat MP, (or have them listen to a Green inspired campaign). For instance I heard her on radio yesterday saying “a grubby trader” (or words very similar to these), seemingly referring to the PM.

        It is not the way the Greens normally conduct themselves, but maybe the lure of power is blunting their sensibilities.

        • felix 9.2.1.1
          10 July 2013 at 6:26 pm

          Where’s the insult, Wayne?

          You mean the bit where she says “John Key is wrong”?

          Fuck you’re a bunch of wimps.

          • Wayne 9.2.1.1.1
            10 July 2013 at 7:18 pm

            Felix, it is obvious in my post that I was commenting on her radio interview yesterday. It was on Morning Report.

            And no, I do not generally hear MP’s talking about one another like that on radio. Generally there is an appropriate level of civil discourse, even when they strongly disagree. And the Greens are generally known for their reasonablness. It is actually part of their brand and part of their appeal.

            Civility may not be so common on the internet, but MP’s operate in public, so I expect an proper level of civility from them, and between them.

            Effective democracy depends on a proper level of respect, going both from the people and to the people. If it is lost it becomes all too easy to villify your opponents. Imprisoning them becomes the ultimate outcome if restraint is lost.

            Plenty such examples in developing democracies – right now in Eygpt. Not that I am suggesting that could happen here.

            • Pascal's bookie 9.2.1.1.1.1
              10 July 2013 at 7:23 pm

              Good lord.

              Are you aware of how the National party refer to the Greens?

              They regularly compare them to some of the worst regimes in history, and you are heading to the fainting couch over ‘grubby trader’.

              I’m shaking my head sir, shaking my damn head indeed.

              EDIT: you might want to take a wee squizz at Campbell Live when in come online too Wayne, in light of our discussion the other day. Goes into exactly how odd it is that Key would be unaware of DotCom.

            • One Anonymous Knucklehead 9.2.1.1.1.2
              10 July 2013 at 7:25 pm

              Sob, sob, the gentle susurrus of crocodile tears.

            • felix 9.2.1.1.1.3
              10 July 2013 at 7:26 pm

              So what? John Key is a two-faced cunt and a proven liar. He deserves no respect whatsoever.

              If she called him anything less then she was too polite.

            • Te Reo Putake 9.2.1.1.1.4
              10 July 2013 at 7:46 pm

              Devil Beast anyone? Imitating the act of slitting a throat in parliament? Hmmm, yep fine examples of a “proper level of civility”. Do go on, Wayne.

            • Draco T Bastard 9.2.1.1.1.5
              10 July 2013 at 11:21 pm

              Imprisoning them becomes the ultimate outcome if restraint is lost.

              BS. Never going to happen in a democracy no matter how unruly the discussions become and the only reason why MPs would be getting imprisoned is because they’re criminals.

        • David H 9.2.1.2
          10 July 2013 at 8:59 pm

          So she is just telling the truth. This is a Grubby little deal, done by a Grubby trader.

  10. aerobubble 10
    10 July 2013 at 4:03 pm

    Joyce says its hard to quantify the additional harm
    from pokies, oh, he obviously has no business experience
    since raising the number of pokies is considerably
    quantifiable, and building a train station outside
    the SkyCity casino increases the catchment area of
    those pokies. Joyce misleads parliament by ignoring
    his government’s decision to build the train loop and
    not declaring the obvious increased harm that would
    have, which has not previously been recognized before.

  11. Rich the other 11
    10 July 2013 at 6:28 pm

    Great idea,
    Allowing labour mps a choice is brilliant, they all know the sky city deal a good one , let’s see if they have the balls to vote for it.

    The logic against the sky city deal is bizarre.
    Problem gamblers have many hundreds of different locations around Auckland where they can loose their money.

    • Rich the other 11.1
      11 July 2013 at 8:32 pm

      Proven , labour mps were given the chance to vote for project which is a very good deal , once again they weren’t up to it , no balls.

  12. Dan1 12
    10 July 2013 at 6:50 pm

    I am not a Green party person but I have been so impressed with Turei’s forthrightness and genuineness. I am disappointed it is a personal vote rather than a conscience vote. Key can pull out his whip and keep his lemmings in line.

    • tc 12.1
      10 July 2013 at 7:38 pm

      I thought it was more about why the F does akl need a brand new convention centre at all when its got idle facilities like viaduct events centre and asb centre at the espom showgrounds. Bringing in a wider perspective shows just how bent this deal is.

      How much are they getting tvnzs land for is also a good question and what legislated standards of service and facilities are being placed on sky to ensure the centre is viable to conferences and not just another cash cow for skycity to leverage more pokie useage from.

      • Molly 12.1.1
        10 July 2013 at 9:22 pm

        I agree. Haven’t seen any credible justification for the convention centre – apart from “we want one”.

        Seems a bit pointless to create a large convention centre at the bottom of the world. End of any flight routes, (unless you count the Antarctic) Anyone heading this way can already stop off in Sydney, Melbourne etc for big casino/convention centres, and they probably will.

        Anyone not heading this way is…. not heading this way.

        Why do we hear so much about kiwi business innovation, and yet see so little of it shown when it comes to ideas like this?

        • Draco T Bastard 12.1.1.1
          10 July 2013 at 11:28 pm

          Why do we hear so much about kiwi business innovation, and yet see so little of it shown when it comes to ideas like this?

          Because innovation isn’t done by RWNJs and the leaders of the National Party.

Links to post

The server will be getting hardware changes this evening starting at 10pm NZDT.
The site will be off line for some hours.