Smokefree Environments (Controls and Enforcement) Amendment Bill

I move, that the Smoke-free Environments (Controls and Enforcement) Amendment Bill be now read a second time. 

I want to start by acknowledging the work of the Health Committee for its dedicated efforts in considering the Bill, for its report on the Bill and the helpful amendments. 

If I could be so bold as to make a preliminary comment about the political support for this legislation, it would be to acknowledge the widespread and sincere attitude of support for smokefree initiatives which I believe is both heartening and responsible.

I want to also acknowledge all of the 150 submitters who participated in the Select Committee process.

This is a very important Bill, it’s primarily about protecting children and young people, and the next generations to come.

I am so very proud that this Government is committed to actions which will reduce the uptake for children and young people to begin smoking. 

And I think it is vital that we set this Bill in context- a context which is about saving lives and advancing wellbeing of our current and future generations.  Those key facts are, in sum, that

• Smoking is the single leading preventable cause of early death in New Zealand.

• That half of all long-term smokers die of a smoking related illness, losing an average of 15 years of life. 

• An estimated 4,500 to 5,000 New Zealanders die each year due to smoking or exposure to second-hand smoke.

• Maori are disproportionately over-represented in these mortality statistics.

• About 650,000 New Zealanders, or one in every five people over the age of 15, continue to put their health and lives at significant risk by smoking. 

• This figure includes approximately 155,000 current smokers who are Maori – about 45% of the Maori population aged between 15 and 65.

Each one of these statistics on their own is a blight on the nation.

But the cumulative effect is devastating.

We can not tolerate inaction.

The New Zealand Government is committed to reducing tobacco consumption and the goal of seeing Aotearoa become a nation that is essentially smokefree by 2025.

As this House is well aware, the Government considered raising the price of tobacco products through tobacco excise increases is an effective measure to reduce tobacco consumption and smoking prevalence. 

In April 2010 the Government moved to raise the tobacco excise in three steps of 10% with the last increment to come into force on 1 January 2012. Subject to evaluation of these recent excise increases, the Government will consider further sizeable and regular tobacco excise increases from 2013 onwards.

That was the first step.  This Bill takes us forward with the next stage of the programme.

This Bill is a key mechanism within the package of increased control measures focused on the retail environment.

This Bill will make the marketing of tobacco products a much more difficult proposition for the tobacco industry.  The Bill achieves this by prohibiting the display of tobacco products in shops. 

People will no longer be confronted with a wall of tobacco every time they go in to the diary.  These measures will also aid those trying to quit by removing some of the temptation to make impulse purchases.

The Bill also removes the ability of retailers to include tobacco related words in their shop signage.  As an example, “John’s Discount Cigarettes” would no longer be able to be plastered all over the shop front.

It also makes it much more difficult for companies to enter into “covert sponsorship arrangements” such as the exclusive supply arrangements we have seen in recent years at events like outdoor musical festivals. 

These are in all but name “sponsorships”, which have been prohibited since 1990.  The Bill clarifies and extends the prohibition on such sponsorships.

It also increases the penalties for selling tobacco products to children and young people (from $2000 to $5000 for an individual and up to $10, 000 for a business). 

The legislation provides for this and a number of other offences to be dealt with by infringement notices rather than costly and time consuming prosecutions through the Courts.

Therefore this Bill is an important step towards the Government goal of making New Zealand a smoke-free nation by 2025. 

We fully acknowledge that there may be some compliance costs to businesses in making the changes required by the Bill, however, we also believe that these extra costs are completely justified when we look at the harm caused by tobacco products. 

Tobacco products should not be treated like other consumer goods and they definitely should not hold pride of place where they can be seen directly behind the counter.
As the recent Māori Affairs Select Committee report on its Inquiry into the tobacco industry in Aotearoa and the consequences of tobacco use for Māori showed there  is still much to do in controllng the scourge that is tobacco. 

This Bill demonstrates that commitment being expressed through a specific initiative targeting tobacco displays.

Mr Speaker, in the spirit of things to come, I want to just highlight my interest in the developments occurring around Australia in relation to plain packaging.

Plain packaging is a key recommendation of the international Framework Convention on Tobacco Control which is a World Health Organization treaty with over 170 signatories.  It’s part of a comprehensive, global approach to removing tobacco promotion and advertising and controlling the part tobacco packaging plays in all that.  

The Government is supportive of the Australian initiative.  They are leading the world in this and many countries including New Zealand are watching the events surrounding this change closely

Mr Speaker, at a Global Health Forum I recently attended in Russia, the impact of tobacco use on non-communicable diseases was described as having a profound effect  on all aspects of economic, social and physical life.

This Bill is one of the stepping stones to achieving our goal of ensuring New Zealand a smoke-free nation by 2025.  I urge all members to support this Bill and help to ensure that our children and rangatahi have the best possible chance to enjoy good health throughout their lives.  

At the time of this Bill’s introduction I said that was confident that this Bill will help in reducing the harms caused by tobacco in New Zealand.   It was extremely heartening to observe the level of cross party support at the First Reading and in the Health Committee; and I look forward that ongoing and universal support I subsequent stages.

I commend the Bill to the House.