David

CUNLIFFE

Labour Leader

12 November 2013 MEDIA STATEMENT
No guarantees on shonky Sky City deal

A Labour government will not be bound by National’s shonky deal with its corporate mates at Sky City, Labour Leader David Cunliffe says.

“Labour will regulate to prevent gambling harm.

“Labour will not compensate for the normal regulatory functions of government.

“If the convention centre is half built, we won’t dig up the foundations, but neither will be bound by this gold-plated deal.

“There are no guarantees of extra gaming tables, there are no guarantees of extra pokie machines and there are certainly no guarantees of compensation.

“The National Government is not focused on building a strong economy for all New Zealanders. Instead it is focused on feathering the nests of its own MPs and its big business backers.

“So Sky City has entered into National’s Hall of Shame.

“It is on that roll alongside Warner Brothers, Media Works, Rio Tinto, commercial fishers and potentially Chorus. After today we can also add the owners of Pike River Coal Limited.

“These are companies ‘Trader John’ has done deals with and sold the law to. He has bailed out big business and in doing so has acted against the interests of Kiwi families.

“In the case of Sky City, some of these families will suffer when their weekly incomes are fed into the casino giant’s extra pokie machines rather than the mouths of their own children.

“A Labour government will act in the interests of New Zealand families, not the big end of town.

“We will stop New Zealand becoming a nation of two halves; National and its big business mates and the rest of the country who struggle daily to pay the mortgage and feed their families,” David Cunliffe says.

ENDS

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