Coleman Jonathan: Public Health Bill — First Reading 
Coleman Jonathan: Public Health Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:644;Page:13856] 
Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN (National—Northcote) 
: 
 That was all very earnest and dreary but frankly there was nothing in that speech to show why we should be rushing through the first reading of the Public Health Bill under urgency tonight. We have had the Public Health Act for 50 years—since 1956—yet this Government feels a need to push this bill through under urgency right at the end of the year. That had me wondering why that is. It is pretty clear why—in this 259-page bill one has to get right through to page 213 before one gets to the Trojan Horse clause. 
I would say that the Government was hoping that at the end of the year in the festive season it could just rush the bill through under the nose of the public and the Opposition and that all of us like them would not have read the bill. Well that is actually not correct. We have read the bill and we have found what the Minister has been trying to hide in it. The Minister has been trying to hide the power to exert some very Draconian influence that can be used if the Minister does not get his or her way. What will happen is that if the voluntary codes do not work the Minister will regulate. There will be more of this nanny State stuff that frankly the public of New Zealand are absolutely fed up with. 
It is quite interesting that in the commentary to this bill there is nothing about this Trojan Horse clause. It is quite interesting that in the Minister’s press release she made no reference to it. It is quite interesting that the Government thinks that if it puts up Lesley Soper for long enough with her boring drab monotone people will go to sleep listening to stuff about border controls and will not see the real nanny State stuff in here which frankly the people of New Zealand are absolutely sick of. [ 
Interruption 
] Martin Gallagher knows how badly it went down in his electorate when the Government decided it was going to try to regulate tuck shops. It went down very poorly. It just shows that we have a Government that thinks that whatever it does inside the beltway with the white liberal establishment in Wellington just does not matter. The Government members do not give a toss about the New Zealand public. They think they can ram through anything they want. 
Having said that I note that there are some good elements of this bill. We agree that the legislation needs an update and we will be supporting this bill’s referral to the select committee but we will have some really hard debates with these failed Labour Party lackeys when we get there. We will be going through this bill clause by clause. I tell members that the National Party will not stand for this State-dominated regulation that these guys are going to foist on the public of New Zealand. This will be an election issue. It really will be. 
The Government thinks it can legislate against diabetes and obesity. It thinks that New Zealanders want to be told what they can eat at the tuck shops of the nation. We heard Sue Kedgley speaking before. She was talking about the National Party and about what happened on the obesity inquiry. I can tell members what the Green Party’s priorities for health are. Would members believe it? We spent more time on an inquiry into aspartame in chewing gum than we did on child cancer services in Wellington. That was because the Greens and Labour dominate the Health Committee. [ 
Interruption 
] That is right. That is where their health priorities are. They are not saying anything now because they know that is right. The fact is that for once I agreed with Hone Harawira. This Government has completely let Maori down in the area of health. It has done nothing really for Maori health. [ 
Interruption 
] It has not. It has been pathetic and poor. 
This bill will be pretty controversial and we will have a real battle in the select committee. Government members think they can hide the Trojan Horse clause on page 213 of a 259-page bill and rush it through under urgency but that just will not wash. It is just another example of this Government thinking it can fool the public of New Zealand and get stuff through that the public are strongly strongly opposed to. They will pay for it at the polls next year I can tell members that. 
We concede that a few things have to be updated in relation to communicable diseases. We have had SARS. We are in the age of bird flu. Indeed I will grudgingly concede—even though the list member from Southland who is soon to be retired made such a terrible speech—that we do have to have border controls to take steps against communicable diseases entering New Zealand. But on the issue of non-communicable diseases if we cannot change the way people think about stuff like obesity and diabetes and if we cannot convince them that they want to make healthy choices as of right we will not be able to tackle obesity. We cannot legislate for this stuff. People want to have the choice to eat what they like. If we give them the right education if we give them choices and if they learn from an early age they can be educated into making those right choices. 
I say in summary that yes we will support the Public Health Bill being referred to a select committee but we will see what happens there. We will certainly not be supporting any of the Draconian legislation that the Labour Party has hidden away on page 213 of a 259-page bill.