Chadwick Steve: Smoke-free Environments (Controls and Enforcement) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Chadwick Steve: Smoke-free Environments (Controls and Enforcement) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
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Hon STEVE CHADWICK (Labour) 
: 
 I rise to support the Smoke-free Environments (Controls and Enforcement) Amendment Bill and to congratulate— 
Darien Fenton 
: What do you think about that contribution? 
Hon STEVE CHADWICK 
: Well I am amazed actually; I am quite gobsmacked by it. But I am pleased to support the Associate Minister of Health Tariana Turia who has introduced bill. I was very surprised to see Minister Nathan Guy move the first reading motion. It was astonishing. This bill is a huge step in Parliament and sitting next to Nathan Guy was the Minister of Health Tony Ryall but he did not move the motion. That showed all of New Zealand that National never really wanted to move this next step. It put up a junior Minister to start the first reading debate and I think that is terribly sad symbolically. It will be noted by those out there.  
I want to congratulate Hone Harawira. I think he has been a warrior for smoking cessation and a proud warrior. This was an issue of convergence actually. It was started by Tukoroirangi Morgan—and we should acknowledge those who have gone before us in the House who were very brave—with the original smoke-free environments legislation. So this bill has been a long time coming; it has been a bit of a slow-burning issue. But any public health issue is about incremental change and bringing society with us. In this issue the convergence is that of evidence but also public support. When Tukoroirangi Morgan brought his bill into the House there was only about 29 percent support in the country for the smoke-free legislation and the whole debate was very bitter. But at the end of 2003 with the next amendment bill the Smoke-free Environments Amendment Bill which I had a part in the support of society and acceptance of the evidence had grown to 80 percent. So it takes a while to bring communities with us.  
I am a bit disappointed in this legislation. We get a crack at it only every now and again. The year 2003 was the last time; it is now 2010 and only one recommendation of the Maori Affairs Committee inquiry report has been picked up by this bill. I think the report offered a great opportunity and I know that Minister Turia would have been fighting very hard with National to get more into the envelope of this suite of recommendations. There may be more that we can do once the bill has gone to the select committee. It is just that we will not get another opportunity for perhaps another 10 years. We should be doing more if we are to reach that goal of smoking cessation by 2025 because time goes by really quickly.  
It is disappointing that I have to correct the record in the House tonight. In question time yesterday after having spoken for 5 minutes the day before on the inquiry report Minister Turia said that Labour did nothing about smoking cessation in its 9 years in Government. I want to acknowledge Helen Clark who was a great leader with an understanding of public health and a champion of the issue of the impact of smoking and second-hand smoke on society. I had picked up the bill from Judy Keall with support from Annette King and Tariana Turia. We got the support of Labour to push for smoking cessation in bars cafes school grounds—members will remember that people used to smoke in school grounds—and university campuses. I was saddened to hear the Minister say that. We do ask what has happened since 2003. There were two doctors in the House who supported the bill—Dr Lynda Scott and Dr Paul Hutchison—and they were consistent. But when I sat in the chair as the member in charge of the bill the rest of the National members were vindictive and absolutely nasty about the bill we were introducing at that time the Smoke-free Environments (Enhanced Protection) Amendment Bill taking away civil liberties. I think that communities themselves have now convinced National that this is the right thing to do and that is often what happens in public policy. Public policy moves with time and the issues are definitely much clearer.  
I think it is very brave honest and upfront of the Maori Party to say that this is largely a Maori issue that needs some Maori solutions. That is great. That is leadership and that is what we are seeing. But there was also an element of pressure. Nothing was done after the petition of 20000 people in 2008. I know we were in an election time so nothing would have been done. But Iain Lees-Galloway did pick up those 20000 petitioners and introduced a member’s bill. That is always a little bit of sand in the oyster that stimulates the Government to say that perhaps it should do something even if it is not sure what. The Maori Affairs Committee inquiry also helped. But in that time of 2 years from the time of that petition to Iain Lees-Galloway’s member’s bill 10000 people died from the effects of smoking. It is a known scientific fact that 350 people die every year from the effects of second-hand smoke. That is more than the number of people killed on the road in motor vehicle accidents in New Zealand. This is a Government that now sees the convergence of both evidence and research. The evidence was there for goodness’ sake about the impacts of smoking in 2003 when Dr Paul Hutchison sat on the Health Committee with me and Sue Kedgley.  
I also want to comment on how it is fantastic to see two ACT members splitting their vote. That party has never been frightened about splitting the vote. In 2003 the worst response to the Smoke-free Environments Amendment Bill came from Rodney Hide. He came down to the House day after day and attacked our position on that bill. He also changed substantially the role of organisations like Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) that were involved in lobbying for change. They were overt about lobbying for change. They did not hide behind physicians nurses doctors midwives Plunket or others who were asking for change. They gave us information and put the evidence before us. Every month we got a newsletter. Rodney Hide changed the rules for Ministry of Health funding of advocacy on health issues and organisations like ASH—which was the only organisation pulling together centrally all the research data that we needed as politicians—lost funding.  
I thought that Sue Kedgley brought up some amazing points about the tobacco industry itself and how it hides behind other organisations but I am saddened about one thing. I sat on the Maori Affairs Committee for 1 day and after 1 day of hearings I said to Hone Harawira and Minister Turia that the one thing we needed to do was to re-establish public health funding for smoking cessation programmes. Quitline is great and patches are great but there is nothing more effective for Maori people and others addicted to the impact of nicotine on their bodies than one-to-one coaching to help them quit smoking. The National Government in its 2008 Budget cut $12 million from smoking cessation programmes.  
So how can National members sit in the House today and say that they support Tariana Turia’s initiatives? They have not put their money where their mouth is. They cut public health funding around the country right across the board. Under this National Government’s watch public health funding for health and wellness has been slashed in every region in New Zealand. It is absolutely wrong for National members to stand up and say that they own this and that they applaud it. All that happened here was that Minister Turia put pressure on the Government which is a political reality and National had to bow to that pressure. I congratulate her on that. I do not congratulate National on this bill tonight. This is a Maori Party initiative. This bill is a small change on yet another journey and I think there will be many more issues.