2. Question No. 2—Prime MinisterRt Hon CHRIS HIPKINS (Leader of the Opposition) to the Prime MinisterQuestion No. 2—Prime Minister2. Rt Hon CHRIS HIPKINS (Leader of the Opposition) to the Prime Minister: Does he stand by all his Government's statements and actions?Rt Hon CHRISTOPHER LUXON (Prime Minister): Yes I do and particularly our Government's statements on education—of course that member was the Minister of Education for 5½ years. The Government is particularly concerned about the state of kids' school attendance—we have 55 percent of our kids not going to school regularly. So I am very proud of our Government's statements and actions around education particularly banning mobile phones; making sure we have one hour of maths reading and writing every day at primary and intermediate schools; and importantly reviewing the curriculum. We care about our kids. We want them to get well educated so they can have a great future.Rt Hon Chris Hipkins: Does he agree with Christopher Luxon on recent changes to smoke-free legislation: We've been really supportive. Anything to remove you know smoking harm I think is a good thing."; if so what's changed?Rt Hon CHRISTOPHER LUXON: We're very pleased to see that the current legislation which we're reverting to has actually driven daily smoking down by two points back to 6.8 and we're on track to deliver Smokefree 2025.Rt Hon Chris Hipkins: Will projected Government revenue from tobacco sales increase or decrease as a result of his Government's decision to wind back changes to smoke-free legislation?Rt Hon CHRISTOPHER LUXON: This Government's very committed to continuing to lower smoking. We don't believe that that Government's legislation was actually the right way forward. We believe that we can achieve lower smoking rates with the legislation that exists today.Rt Hon Chris Hipkins: Point of order Mr Speaker. That may well be the Prime Minister's opinion; it didn't relate to the question that I asked him.SPEAKER: Well in the end all ministerial answers are opinions of the Minister. You can ask the question again and we'll see what happens.Rt Hon Chris Hipkins: Will projected Government revenue from tobacco sales increase or decrease as a result of his Government's decision to wind back changes to smoke-free legislation?Rt Hon CHRISTOPHER LUXON: Revenue forecasts are Budget-sensitive but we want lower smoking rates across this country—that's what we're going to do.Rt Hon Winston Peters: Supplementary question.Rt Hon Chris Hipkins: Supplementary question.SPEAKER: I'll go there—sorry.Rt Hon Winston Peters: He's had three.Rt Hon Chris Hipkins: Does he agree—SPEAKER: Hang on a minute. Wait on—wait on. Yes I know he's had three but I'm the one who calls. Rt Hon Chris Hipkins.Rt Hon Chris Hipkins: Does he agree with Nicola Willis—Rt Hon Winston Peters: Point of order Mr Speaker. Let's get things started right in 2024.SPEAKER: Well that's what I'm trying to do and believe me I'm going to be the one who wins here.Rt Hon Winston Peters: Not if you're going on principle. Principles should win not personalities. Can I just say this: he's had three questions already and the next time he's interrupted this should have been given to the other side of the House surely.SPEAKER: One of the things that became a convention in the last Parliament was that where the primary questioner continues to ask for supplementaries until their allocation runs out they're able to do that. If they sit down and hold one back that's fine but the Rt Hon Chris Hipkins wants to get his all out at one go and I think that's reasonable given the way that we've operated over the previous three years.Rt Hon Chris Hipkins: Does he therefore agree with Nicola Willis who said "Coming back to those extra sources of revenue and other savings areas that will help us to fund tax reduction we have to remember that the changes to smoke-free legislation had a significant impact on the Government books - with about $1 billion there."; if so why does he think that more people smoking or smoking more is an acceptable way of funding tax cuts?Rt Hon CHRISTOPHER LUXON: I disagree completely. The legislation that we are reverting to is the same legislation that has seen a consistent decrease in daily smoking. If you just look at the last year it's gone from 8.6 percent in 2022 down to 6.8 percent in 2023. The legislation was working. It was driving smoking rates down and that's what we'll continue to do in Government.Rt Hon Winston Peters: Could I ask the Prime Minister as to whether or not it's axiomatic that if there is a dramatic decline which is now the world's leading decline in tobacco smoking then it's quite possible that the instance of tax will go down as well; and second that the legislation about which the Leader of the Opposition is talking was not constructed by him but by New Zealand First which led to the dramatic fall in tobacco smoking in the first place? And that's a fact.Rt Hon CHRISTOPHER LUXON: I agree that the legislation we are wanting to put in place has actually driven smoking rates down and will continue to do so going forward.Rt Hon Chris Hipkins: Has the Government requested any advice on freezing tobacco excise; if so why?Rt Hon CHRISTOPHER LUXON: Not that I'm aware of.Hon David Seymour: How much revenue would the Government get from illegally smuggled and sold counterfeit cigarettes that are now dominating the Australian market with organised crime taking over and the situation getting out of control?Rt Hon CHRISTOPHER LUXON: Well I think the member raises a very good question which was the problem with the previous Government's proposed changes to legislation—that it would encourage a black market and would actually lead to increasing levels of crime and ram raids.Rt Hon Chris Hipkins: If any Minister or Ministers in his Government have received donations from anyone associated with the tobacco lobby would he regard that as a conflict of interest and exclude them from decision making on any future changes to smoke-free legislation?Rt Hon CHRISTOPHER LUXON: I'm not aware of that.Rt Hon Chris Hipkins: Point of order Mr Speaker. I didn't ask him whether he was aware; I asked him whether he would regard it as a conflict of interest they received—SPEAKER: It's a fair question.Rt Hon CHRISTOPHER LUXON: Yeah. I would expect that all Ministers would comply with their reporting obligations.Rt Hon Chris Hipkins: Point of order Mr Speaker. The Cabinet Manual makes it very clear that the Prime Minister determines whether or not they have a conflict of interest. I've asked him whether he would regard that as a conflict of interest or not and he still hasn't answered it.Rt Hon CHRISTOPHER LUXON: I expect all Ministers to comply with the Cabinet Manual and to declare conflicts of interest."