Lees-Galloway Iain: Customs and Excise (Tobacco Products—Budget Measures) Amendment Bill — In Committee 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Lees-Galloway Iain: Customs and Excise (Tobacco Products—Budget Measures) Amendment Bill — In Committee 
[Sitting date: 26 September 2012. Volume:684;Page:5730. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
IAIN LEES-GALLOWAY (Labour—Palmerston North) 
: 
 It is a pleasure to speak to Supplementary Order Paper 129 moved on behalf of the Hon Tariana Turia. What this Supplementary Order Paper does is that it divides the Customs and Excise (Tobacco Products—Budget Measures) Amendment Bill into a number of bills. This will separate out all those separate pieces of legislation that need to be amended in order to discriminate against different people who receive income from the Government. 
The Labour Party will be voting in favour of this Supplementary Order Paper to separate the legislation but I would like to indicate at this point that it will be our intention when it comes time to vote on those separate pieces of legislation to vote against the individual bills that will relate to that specific measure that the Government is taking. We will vote in favour of the new Customs and Excise (Tobacco Products—Budget Measures) Amendment Bill but we will vote against the Children Young Persons and Their Families (Indexation—Budget Measures) Amendment Bill the Education (Student Allowances Indexation—Budget Measures) Amendment Bill the Income Tax (Working for Families Indexation—Budget Measures) Amendment Bill the New Zealand Superannuation and Retirement Income (Indexation—Budget Measures) Amendment Bill the Social Security (Indexation—Budget Measures) Amendment Bill and the War Pensions (Indexation—Budget Measures) Amendment Bill because we believe that the Government has taken completely the wrong approach in discriminating against a certain set of New Zealanders who will not have the ability to be reimbursed I suppose for this increase whilst allowing others to be able to do so. 
We understand what the Government is trying to achieve in increasing the cost of tobacco in real terms and ensuring that there are fewer opportunities to offset that. However if the Government’s true intention was for that impact to be spread fairly across all smokers then it would have taken an approach whereby the CPI calculation for all smokers would not include the tobacco tax increase. Rather it has taken the approach that only those who receive some form of income from the Government will be affected. That is why the Labour Party is certainly happy to see the separation of these bills because we want to be able to vote for the parts of this bill that we think make sense. 
We agree that increasing tobacco taxation is one way of reducing the harm caused by tobacco. We suspect that the Government’s real motivation behind doing that is to make up for its lost revenue but we do appreciate the perhaps unintended consequence for the Government of doing so—that it will reduce tobacco-related harm. So we want to be able to vote for that aspect of the bill but we actually appreciate that this amendment will allow us to vote against those measures that we think are rather insidious and create just one more division between people who receive income from the Government and other New Zealanders. That is certainly what this Government’s approach has been over the last few weeks: to drive that wedge between some New Zealanders and others as hard as it can. It wants to see people fighting amongst themselves. It wants to see people pointing the finger of blame at the victims of poverty rather than trying to do something about it. This bill in its own small way has been found out tonight as being part of that Government programme to continue to discriminate against anybody—anybody. It is a broad brush in this bill; even the poor veterans are getting hit with this bill. So we certainly support— 
Denis O’Rourke 
: Superannuitants. 
IAIN LEES-GALLOWAY 
: And the superannuitants—you are absolutely right. The superannuitants the families who receive Working for Families—a whole range of people are going to be unnecessarily discriminated against with this legislation. So it is good that this bill will be separated out into its component parts by this Supplementary Order Paper in the name of the Hon Tariana Turia. That will give the right-minded parties in this Chamber the opportunity to vote for those aspects of the legislation that will do good and against those aspects of the legislation that will do harm. 
It is a noble idea to ensure that the excise tax increase results in an increase in real terms in the cost of tobacco but it is not noble at all—it is as far from noble as is humanly possible to be—to determine that one group of New Zealanders will be hit by that methodology and others will escape from it. 
The Labour Opposition is very happy to support this Supplementary Order Paper in the name of the Hon Tariana Turia. We think it will be useful—it will be quite useful—because it actually will allow Parliament to reveal what some of these measures really are what their true intended purpose is and will give Opposition parties the opportunity to cast their votes accordingly. As I have said I want to signal that tomorrow during the third reading debate on these bills as they will be by then the Labour Opposition will certainly be voting against those measures that discriminate against people who receive a benefit or an allowance from the Government. 
Motion agreed to. 
Bill to be reported without amendment presently.