Williamson Maurice: Smoke-free Environments Amendment Bill — Procedure Referral to Health Committee In Committee Speaker Recalled In Committee Speaker Recalled  Speaker Recalled In Committee Procedure 
Williamson Maurice: Smoke-free Environments Amendment Bill — Procedure Referral to Health Committee In Committee Speaker Recalled In Committee Speaker Recalled  Speaker Recalled In Committee Procedure 
[Volume:613;Page:9989] 
Hon MAURICE WILLIAMSON (National—Pakuranga) 
: 
 I do intend to stick to a very specific provision within Part 3—that is section 23A(1)(h) in new clause 8A. Given that the person sponsoring the bill has not seen fit to bring in officials I assume she will be able to answer the details of this particular issue when I raise it. 
I think there is an inconsistency in this bill that almost renders it void. It is to do with typeface and it is to do with the difference between different fonts. I have to say a number of members will not know about serif fonts and sans serif fonts. For those who do not know—and I am sure the member sponsoring the bill does know—a serif is a little wee twirl on the edge of a letter. In relation to a capital T if it is just a nice straight vertical line with a cross across the top it is a sans serif font—a square block. 
 We find an inconsistency. The bill is talking about a typeface known as Helvetica. It is mandated by this bill. I am sure members of the public will want to know about this in the morning; they will all race to their word processors and select the Helvetica font and they will see it is a sans serif font. It is a square very block letter. However section 23A(1)(h)(iv) states “in roman font”. I ask the member sponsoring this bill whether she realises that a roman font is actually a serif font. It has the little curls on the letters. I can see a major inconsistency—which I am sure most members of the Committee can now spot—and I am sure it will cause a serious problem for the bill’s progress. In fact I think it might be worth reporting progress sending the bill back to the select committee and getting in an expert on fonts to make sure that that inconsistency—[ 
Interruption 
] The member laughs but it is not good enough for Parliament to pass a bill that has that sort of inconsistency in it. 
John Carter 
: What do you want? 
Hon MAURICE WILLIAMSON 
: I want the member sponsoring the bill to take a call and tell us whether she means serif fonts in which case Helvetica is out and we have to scrap that provision or whether she means sans serif fonts in which case Helvetica is in but the roman font is out. There will be people listening tonight who think this issue is trivial but the member has put it in the bill. 
Georgina Beyer 
: No. 
Hon MAURICE WILLIAMSON 
: Georgina Beyer does not think it is trivial. She thinks it is OK for a bill to tell us exactly what particular character set we have to write the warning in—as if New Zealanders are so stupid that they could not read it if it were in a Times New Roman font or even in an Old English font. Pita Paraone says it should be in Maori. I think that should be optional. If it were in Maori that would be fine by me. 
The member says she does not need officials. She does not have officials here to answer that question. But she has to tell us tonight as the Committee needs to know. There is a total inconsistency between subparagraph (iv) which provides for a roman font and subparagraph (iii) which states that the font must be Helvetica. I think she knows the answer and I am happy to yield if she will take the call and explain that. If she does not it is quite clear to me that the member sponsoring the bill does not know the difference between those fonts. She has got down to that level of minutiae to defining what people have to do in terms of their signage—the size and the font of the characters—which is bizarre in my view and she has done all of that without knowing what a serif font and a sans serif font are about. 
Georgina Beyer 
: Tell us. 
Hon MAURICE WILLIAMSON 
: Georgina Beyer wants me to tell the Committee. I am happy to take some time on it because it is important. I can see the gallery starting to fill up. Those people who have a font addiction will be gathering around their crystal sets. Those who like a nice square typeface on their “Smoking Kills” warning signs will be outraged that the font will be Times New Roman. I can understand why people would be upset about a roman font. It has the little squiggles and the curls. It can be less clear when someone is standing at a distance. I know that  
The 
Times 
 of London uses it for headings because it captures the attention better but no this member says that Helvetica is the way to go. That is an outrage quite apart from all the other nonsense in this bill such as allowing smoking in prisons and on marae but not allowing it in restaurants.