7 November 2002 Media statement

Hide misrepresents facts yet again

“Rodney Hide seems unable to get things right, as he has again proved today with his absurd statements about so called hand-outs to make Pokie machines,” said Economic, Industry and Regional Development Minister Jim Anderton.

“There was a grant of $100,000 for a Timaru company to develop a system to effectively monitor gaming machines. This will ensure that information on how much money has gone into pokies machines and how much they have paid out is accurate.”

“Developing accurate and reliable monitoring of gaming machines is Government policy and will ensure that that the right amount of money is returned to the community.

“The Government knows there are significant amounts of funding being denied to community projects because of lack of accurate information on the revenues that gaming machines collect.

“If I had my way there would be fewer gaming machines. However, if there are gaming machines it is important that Internal Affairs know how much money has gone into them.

“Unfortunately Mr Hide does not understand how funding decisions by Industry New Zealand are made. I do not decide who gets grants, decisions are made by Industry New Zealand with advice from experienced private sector business people.

“Every time Mr Hide misrepresents the facts he reduces his own credibility to levels which will eventually would not even be picked up on a radar screen”.

ENDS

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