Headline: Treasury bet against Key’s SkyCity gamble
John Key ignored a mountain of official advice warning the government to think twice about its backroom deal with SkyCity, says Grant Robertson, Labour’s Deputy Leader.
“Yesterday’s document dump paints a picture of an out of touch National government which ploughed ahead with the SkyCity deal in the face of serious concerns from Treasury, the Department of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment.
“Don’t forget, John Key personally intervened in this process to give SkyCity the inside running on this deal. He stacked the deck in favour of the casino operator and effectively prevented other bidders from getting a fair go.
“What we now know is that the Treasury warned ministers the Crown was in a weak negotiating position. The final deal shows how right Treasury was.
“SkyCity held all the cards, and they’ve walked away with a 35 year deal that attempts to bind the hands of future government, by ensuring any changes that affect its business will result in compensation.
“Treasury warned the government just how weak the case was for this deal, saying it was not convinced of the cost-benefit analysis.
“It highlighted the increased social costs of increased gambling. Treasury warned that it had “strong concerns that private benefits to SkyCity will exceed public benefits to New Zealanders.” In truth, the social and financial costs of the increased problem gambling will be paid by families and the taxpayer.
“That will be the real legacy of this deal – increased social harm caused by more problem gambling. John Key and his ministers were warned, and they chose to ignore those warnings. And as these documents confirm, they did so in the full knowledge that this was a bad deal for New Zealand,” says Grant Robertson.
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