Faafoi Kris: Smoke-free Environments (Controls and Enforcement) Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
Faafoi Kris: Smoke-free Environments (Controls and Enforcement) Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
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KRIS FAAFOI (Labour—Mana) 
: 
 Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak on the Smoke-free Environments (Controls and Enforcement) Amendment Bill. This is one of the first issues that I have dealt with as a new member of the Health Committee and I would like to echo the comments made by the chair of the Health Committee Dr Paul Hutchison that it was a pleasure to deal with the bill in a unanimous way. As the committee went through the submissions it acted as one and with a unified voice and with unified questioning as well. It was a pleasure to be on the committee. Of the 150 submitters on the bill it is fair to say some inspired me some really annoyed me and some outright disgusted me with some of the stuff that they came to the committee with in terms of what they said about this bill. 
With 700000 Kiwis smoking at this stage I think it is pretty clear that smoking in New Zealand causes significant social impacts in terms of people’s health. Labour supports this bill because our position is to encourage New Zealand to be smoke-free by 2025. I want to paint a bit of a Pacific picture here if I can. Some Ministry of Health figures from 2008 show that the New Zealand average for male smoking was around the 26 percent mark and for Pacific Island males it was around the 35 percent mark. For females the reading was not much better: on average around 22 percent of females were smoking but for Pacific Island females the smoking rate was around the 28 percent mark. So Pacific Islanders are disproportionately represented in the smoking statistics in New Zealand. It is well recognised that smoking is either a risk factor for or a cause of cancers respiratory diseases and cardiovascular diseases. Some research from Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) in 2008 also showed that in the Pacific Island community there were 30 deaths from cancer about 102 deaths from cardiovascular disease and 23 deaths from strokes. Smoking in terms of the Pacific Island community is obviously a very significant issue but the community is dealing with it. 
Smoking is also an issue within my own culture. The ASH study in 2008 showed that 42 percent of Tokelauans registered themselves as smokers which was by far and away the largest percentage in a Pacific grouping in New Zealand. I congratulate the Tokelauan health community. They have recognised that this is a large problem within their people and they are taking strong steps to try to counter that and to ensure that members of the Tokelauan community are quitting smoking as much as they can. 
I will go back to the submissions made during the select committee process. I will congratulate a number of Pacific organisations that submitted to the select committee. In particular I point out one organisation that the select committee heard from in Auckland I think which was Tala Pasifika. Its programme manager Stephanie Erick basically said the thrust of this bill was on the money and that “Addressing the issues of tobacco accessibility to youth and at-risk populations in New Zealand is a major step towards protecting current and future generations who would have otherwise been vulnerable to the deadly and addictive tobacco products that currently enjoy promotion in retail settings across the country.” She also went on to say “To protect our Pacific children and the wider community from being initiated into smoking the removal of tobacco retail displays from sight is an essential and urgent requirement.” I congratulate Tala Pasifika on making that submission to the select committee and I acknowledge the important role that Pacific health practitioners play in making sure that they get as many Pacific Islanders as possible to quit smoking. 
The health of the Pacific Island community is also a very topical issue today because this morning out on the forecourt of Parliament there was a 200-strong protest I will call it of people from the Pacific communities of my own electorate of Mana—predominantly from Porirua East. They came to Parliament to protest against cuts in the health budget. I point out that it was commendable that the Minister of Pacific Island Affairs Georgina te Heuheu addressed the group of people that formed on the forecourt but it was a bit on the nose that she called it a celebration of Pacific health. It was not that at all. It was a hikoi and it was a protest. It was a hikoi and a protest and I think it was a bit on the nose for those people who turned up—the 200 people from my electorate who are worried about the level of Pacific health funding—that the Minister of Pacific Island Affairs although she took on board the comments and the petition from the 200-strong protest called that protest a celebration. It was nothing of the sort; it was a protest at the Government’s cut to funding in the Pacific health sector. 
One of those services Pacific Health Service Porirua has a very strong smoking cessation programme. It is very concerned about what the cuts to the health budget will do to that programme. It is not the only Pacific health provider in Porirua that has a strong smoking cessation programme. I guess I am trying to say it is great to have the will to try to make New Zealand smoke-free by 2025 but if we are to achieve that goal we have to back up that commitment with funding. In the communities where it will make a big difference—and I mentioned before the overrepresentation of Pacific Islanders in the smoking statistics—we have to back up the commitment we make in legislation with the resources to make sure that if we want to get people from the Pacific Island communities to quit smoking we have people in those communities who can encourage that. 
I will turn back to some of the other issues raised at the select committee. Another submitter—a tobacconist I believe he was from Dunedin; I will not mention his name—claimed that 95 percent of his sales came from tobacco. That is obviously the case. He claimed that he sold $150000 worth of cigarettes or tobacco per week through his store in Dunedin. He basically claimed that most of his customers became friends and he had been selling to them for decades. I asked him during the hearing given that he said he had been selling to these “friends” for decades how many of those people those customers he believed would want to quit. I think if I recall correctly he said it would be about 70 percent. I think that although we are passing this legislation there is also a bit of an onus on retailers too. Although New Zealanders have the freedom to buy tobacco whenever they like if they are of the right age there is a responsibility upon retailers to make sure that they are doing the socially right thing and not necessarily feeding the habits of the people who buy tobacco from them. In that case someone who is selling $150000 worth of tobacco per week over his counter through his store and who thinks that about 70 percent of his customers want to quit might need to think about some of the social responsibility that he has too. 
I will pick up on some of the earlier comments that Dr Paul Hutchison made too about some of the details relating to herbal products. I think it is good that the same restrictions on herbal smoking products will come into this legislation. The same restrictions that apply to tobacco sales will be placed on herbal products. Also the fines regime is to increase for both tobacco and herbal products. I believe that the maximum fine for a proprietor for selling to someone who is under age will now increase to $10000. I think that is a positive move in terms of trying to make sure that we crack down on retailers who continually flout the rules and sell cigarettes to those who are under 18 years of age. 
I finish by saying we welcome and support this bill. It was a pleasure to be on the select committee. As I said it was one of my first issues to deal with on the select committee. To sit on that committee and work on a bill such as this which had unanimous support from all parties was a pleasure. I also commend the Minister in charge of this bill the Hon Tariana Turia for her work to make sure that action was taken on this issue. The last Labour Government took some real steps the first marker steps to make sure that we make New Zealand smoke-free by 2025. The Minister needs to be commended for her efforts to make sure that the Government made this legislation a priority even though it took some time for National to do so. The Minister pushed it as hard as she could and it is a pleasure that the bill is at this stage in the House. Thank you very much for the opportunity to speak.