Monday 13th June, 2011

TRANSCRIPT: Prime Minister, John Key interviewed on TV ONE’s Breakfast at 7:20am this morning.

The full length video interview can also be seen on tvnz.co.nz at, http://tvnz.co.nz/Breakfast

John Key interviewed by Petra Bagust

Petra: It emerged last night that the government's doing a major deal with Sky City to build a major convention centre in Auckland. Sky City said, sure but in return they want a relaxing of regulations around their gambling operation. To talk about that and what the government can do to tackle underage drinking is Prime Minister Mr John Key who joins us now, good morning.

John Key – Prime Minister
Good morning Petra.

Petra: Okay so there's talk of a precedent being set here, if you spend a certain amount of money this could initiate law changes?

John: No I don’t think that’s right, I mean we want to be in a regime where we can make sure that there's good business activity, and where we grow Auckland and we grow the country, and in this particular case we do want Sky City to invest $350m that’s going to create a 1000 jobs while that construction is underway, and 800 permanent jobs, and bring about 100,000 visitor nights, high value visitor nights a year. So yeah, so we think Auckland needs a convention centre, government and the ratepayers don’t want to put in money, Sky City's license actually expires in 1921, this facility wouldn’t be finished until 2015, 14/15, so you can't expect their shareholders to invest for six years without certainty of their investment.

Petra: Every time I hear about it, talked about it though, it sounds like they're doing us a favour by paying for a viable business. Surely they wouldn’t build it if it wasn't a viable business.

John: That’s right, so we need to put up a case to make sure that it is viable, because we want them not only to build it but to run it.

Petra: Do we have to thank them for building it?

John: Well I don’t think it's a matter of thanking them, it's a matter of being logical, I mean we are sitting there saying look, their license expires in 2021, we know that it will be extended.

Petra: Is that the only change that’s on the cards?

John: No, there's likely to be more gaming machines and more pokie machines, and that’s largely targeted at the international market and that helps overall make the transaction work, because without that it's unlikely that just the convention centre would support the $350m investment.

Petra: Right. The Greens though, the Maori Party, they're not happy about it, they think it's a bad look, it looks like if you spend this certain amount then we're willing to do this for you.

John: Well it's not a matter of spending an amount of money, I mean the government's constantly changing the laws to facilitate either economic development, or to make changes in other parts of society. I mean we're constantly changing aquaculture laws, or fishing laws, or whatever it might be. I mean in the case of Sky City that particular license is site specific. I mean they're also complaining about the fact that we changed the labour laws around Warner Brothers and the making of the Hobbit movies. Well it wasn't specific to Warner Brothers, it was specific to that industry about the definition of the contract. But again these are the same people that will say, because it's largely Labour that are leading the charge, they’ve spent nine years tying people up, will largely say oh yes but what about unemployment, and what about jobs, and what about making Auckland an international city. Well we can't have everything. I mean I think we change laws to try and make sure that we deliver what we want, and that is a more vibrant economy, and creation of jobs.

Petra: Alright, let's move to the next topic. There's talk about Colonel Mara visiting New Zealand for two days. He wants to tell you what it's really like in Fiji. Is that something that New Zealand is inviting, because obviously the relationship between Fiji's a little tense at the moment.

John: Well it's not so much inviting, I mean he makes an application which he's done, and he's on the banned list, we're not taking him off the banned list, unlike Australia, they’ve completely taken him off their banned list, we have different rules in New Zealand. So we are permitting him to come for a couple of days. He won’t actually be talking to me cos I'm not meeting with him, but he will meet with officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. It will be interesting to find out his version of events and what information we might get, but it doesn’t mean he can come back.

Petra: Is it a bit of a military publicity tour? What's he here for?

John: Well I mean he's here because he wants to tell his story, and look at the end of the day, I mean whether he can come back again, whether he permanently comes off the list, he is one of a number of people who have made applications to permanently come off the list. I mean you don’t stay on the list forever, but whether he will actually come off or when he would come off, that’s a matter for EMFAT and it's quite a complex issue. We look at a lot of different issues then.

Petra: So it's a once off at the moment?

John: At the moment, yeah.

Petra: Now the whole country is concerned and talking about the teen drinking culture after the events of the weekend. Is it time, with this law reform happening right now, to get tougher on young people in New Zealand drinking?

John: Well I think we all acknowledge there needs to be a cultural change for young people, and I mean the government's trying to do a number of things with the legislation that’s currently in the Select Committee, we're back before parliament fairly soon, and that is including making sure that there is good parental responsibility. I mean some people have knocked that, that we've basically said look there should be laws that both give parents protection but make sure it ensures that those host parties, that they have good responsibility, and understand their responsibility when it comes to the administration of those laws. We're also looking at changing things like the amount of alcohol that can be in an RTD for instance. But I mean I think it's more than just the law change. Every secondary school that I go and speak to in the country, and that’s pretty much at least one a week, I talk to the young people themselves directly about the drinking culture in New Zealand. We can't – it's very unlikely we can actually tie up young people in cotton wool and pretend that they’ll never get access to alcohol.

Petra: No, in fact we need to teach them to drink responsibly, but do we also need to teach them to delay drinking, that they don’t need to drink to have a good time? Do we need to stop talking and take action?

John: We do, I mean if you look at the case of that particular ball on Saturday night, and many many other balls that will take place around New Zealand, there were clear rules at that ball that it was alcohol and drug free.

Petra: And parents were hosting parties before that ball with alcohol available?

John: Yeah, and so I mean that’s where it fits into the responsible host, no one's I don’t think arguing that the particular host of that pre-ball that David Gaynor went to, wasn't responsible. There's no evidence that he wasn't. But the main point is you know ultimately about the culture that we have, and I think the culture has to change. I think we do need to get to a point where youngsters realise that they can drink, and they don’t have to drink to get drunk.

Petra: So how do we change that culture?

John: Well I think we've gotta constantly be talking to them, I mean there's a limit to how much the law can actually provide that guidance.

Petra: Do you think parents ought to lead the charge, or the government ought to lead the charge?

John: I think there's a combination too. I mean the government can give parents support, so one of the reasons we've been looking at having greater responsibilities around hosting, is to make sure that parents know that they have that support, so that they can say when young people come, well if you don’t bring your alcohol then I can't supply it to you, and I do have legal responsibilities, and that’s a position which gives them a greater level of authority. Because it's quite a trade off actually with the intimidation sometimes you can feel from young people when they come to those events. On the other side of the coin you know young people will only be in our control if you like, directly when they're in front of us for a certain period of time. Ultimately …

Petra: To set a good example.

John: Well we have to let them go on their own, we have to talk to them about how they can responsibly drink, and what the risks are if they do drink to excess.

Petra: And maybe we need to model drinking responsibly to them. Great test last night.

John: Yeah it was a great result, Tracey Williams and Temepara fantastic, nail-biter in the last minutes, it was a great result, and World Cup coming up obviously in July in Singapore.

Petra: Excellent. Thanks Prime Minister.

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