King AnnetteHon ANNETTE KING (Deputy Leader—Labour): Labour supports the Smoke-free Environments (Tobacco Plain Packaging) Amendment Bill and we support it with enthusiasm. Can I tell the members that there are a few here who actually sat on the Health Committee to hear the submissions on this bill. I think my colleague Kevin Hague was there. I think Barbara Stewart was there. I am not sure whether there are any National members left in the House who actually heard the submissions. The Government made a decision to have this bill on 18 February 2013. Then the bill was actually referred to our committee on 11 February 2014. So the first point I want to make is that from February to August 2014 the select committee dealt with this bill. We travelled around New Zealand to hear the submissions. We received and considered 15682 submissions from interested groups and individuals. A number of the submissions were form submissions and they did replicate the content. We heard oral evidence from 32 submitters in Auckland and Wellington and I have to say they were overwhelmingly in favour of this bill. Practically the only ones who were opposed to it were the tobacco companies that flew in from around the world to make their submissions to the committee for 15 minutes—because they got the same as everybody else. So for thousands of dollars for something they said would not work they were prepared to come and make a submission. I say good on them if they wanted to make a submission but it really did convince me that this was obviously going to be an effective measure because if it was not they would not have bothered even making a submission. So my criticism of the Government is not the bill. The bill in the form in which it is now being presented to this House due to the work the select committee did—and I am pleased the Minister has said the Government has accepted all the amendments—is a good bill including the name change. But what I will be critical of is the time that it has taken to get this bill here. We are talking almost 2 years—2 years waiting to pass a piece of legislation that tightens the screws on tobacco control in New Zealand. Why did we wait 2 years? We waited because the Government refused to be a leader in the fight for tobacco control with this measure. It wanted to wait to see what happened in Australia because Australia had the guts to put in place plain packaging. It said: We are an independent sovereign nation. We will make our own decisions about what we have in public health law." And they went ahead they passed their legislation they brought in plain packaging and they were sued by the tobacco companies. So rather than say "We are a sovereign nation. We are prepared to stand up for New Zealanders and pass our legislation." we sat there wringing our hands and saying: "We need to wait and see." I was really disappointed because do you know what? New Zealand has been a leader in tobacco control for decades. The first real legislation passed in this Parliament was passed by the Rt Hon Helen Clark. [Interruption] The Rt Hon Helen Clark—for Simon O'Connor who does not seem to remember her—was the Minister of Health and she brought in legislation banning smoking in workplaces. Once upon a time like on Gliding On you could sit in your office and puff away as much as you liked—or in your factory or wherever you worked. That was the first legislation. Then over the years legislation regulation and education have been implemented in this country. I want to say that the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control which is our international agreement was negotiated and passed when I was the Minister of Health and it was ratified under a Labour Government. We committed ourselves to the principles of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. One of them is plain packaging. There is still more that needs to be done but that is where we were the leaders. We were out there. We were there with the Australians and some of the Scandinavian countries arguing at the World Health Assembly and arguing against big tobacco companies. But I do think maybe the problem that National has had apart from not showing the bottle to be able to bring in this legislation in our time frame—New Zealand's time frame—is the fact that National has had two tobacco lobbyists in its caucus. I raise this issue because Philip Morris's spokesperson was Chris Bishop and you need to hear what he said about this bill. He said that there are not any studies that suggest that plain packaging will work at stopping people from taking up smoking or helping them to quit smoking—there is not one study to suggest that. He then went on to say this: "We're worried about the retailers. We're worried about the impact. We're worried about the retailers." Hon Member: Who was that?Hon ANNETTE KING: This was Chris Bishop. He said: "We're worried about the retailers. We are worried about the impact of plain packaging on intellectual property treaties that we are subject to." This is a member of the National caucus with these views—no wonder it has dragged the chain when it came to implementing this legislation. But you see research that was cited to us from the New Zealand Medical Journal states that New Zealand studies show that plain packets that feature large graphic health warnings are significantly more likely to promote cessation amongst young adult smokers than fully or partially branded tobacco packs. I am more inclined to believe the World Health Organization the New Zealand Medical Association the Public Health Association of New Zealand—the experts who have devoted their lives to reducing the consumption and the prevalence of tobacco in New Zealand. I am more inclined to believe them than the words of a backbencher who is a former tobacco lobbyist. So what do we have in this bill that is now before us? And I do hope we are not going to drag the chain and have the second reading and then wait for the end of the year to have the Committee stage and then maybe eventually pass it. If this is in the process now I say to the Minister get this bill through—get this bill through and stop mucking about as we have done to date. This bill does I think four very important things. First of all the principal objective is to reduce the appeal of tobacco products and smoking particularly to young people. I have to say Minister I have seen some of the pictures that are going to be on the so-called plain packaging—not plain at all; that is a real misnomer—and they are graphic. If they do not put you off smoking they ought to put you off smoking. So that is the first objective. The second one is to reduce the wider social acceptance and approval of smoking and tobacco products. We must do that if we are going to be smoke-free by 2025. The Government says it has signed up to that but I do not believe we will make it under the progress that has been made by this Government. Minister there is so much more—so much more—and the Minister would have a place in history if he just took hold of this portfolio and really moved it along. The third one is to increase the noticeability and the effectiveness of mandated health warnings messages and images and the fourth is to reduce the likelihood of consumers acquiring false perceptions of the harm caused by tobacco products. Of course some of us come from the era when smoking was very very acceptable—where you as a young person put your cigarette in a cigarette holder and thought you looked cool. You had the false perception of tobacco. Over time we have got rid of that perception and this bill helps it. You have got a packet of cigarettes you are going to have some—[Interruption] No I am not speaking to you Mr Assistant Speaker. Those who have a packet of cigarettes—Hon Member: A pipe.Hon ANNETTE KING: And your pipe—I am looking to have labels on pipes as well. But there will be no doubt that if people are buying tobacco cigarettes the package will show the damage and the harm that can be done to them. There is much more that can be said but I do want to say we recommended a change in the name of the legislation and the Minister said that he has accepted the change—replacing "(Tobacco Plain Packaging)" with "(Tobacco Standardised Packaging)". I remember—[Interruption] This is quite an important point Mr Assistant Speaker. I could just finish it if you gave me a minute.The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Lindsay Tisch): I will give you 10 seconds.Hon ANNETTE KING: 10 seconds. Sir Geoffrey Palmer said when he was at the Law Commission that bills should accurately reflect what they are meant to do and this change of name does that. Thank you."