Lees-Galloway Iain: Inquiries — Inquiry into the Tobacco Industry in Aotearoa and the Consequences of Tobacco Use for Maori —Report of Maori Affairs Committee 
Lees-Galloway Iain: Inquiries — Inquiry into the Tobacco Industry in Aotearoa and the Consequences of Tobacco Use for Maori —Report of Maori Affairs Committee 
[Volume:669;Page:15953] 
IAIN LEES-GALLOWAY (Labour—Palmerston North) 
: 
 It is a pleasure to speak in this debate this afternoon. The title of this report and the title of the inquiry is the  
Inquiry into the tobacco industry in Aotearoa and the consequences of tobacco use for Maori 
. Those of us on the Maori Affairs Committee—and yes despite my fair complexion I did get to spend time on the committee for this inquiry and I appreciate the fact that the members of the committee gave me the opportunity to do so—had to regularly remind ourselves that the focus was on the tobacco industry. We all know why we have to curtail smoking prevalence in New Zealand. It is because smoking kills between 4500 and 5000 New Zealanders every year. It is because it shortens life spans in New Zealand. It is because it affects Maori more than it affects Pakeha and therefore has an inequitable effect across the population of New Zealand. The responsibility for all of those things lies squarely with the tobacco industry and that is where the focus of this inquiry had to lie. 
The previous speaker raised the issue of personal responsibility. We have heard from a number of people throughout this debate that if people took more personal responsibility for themselves they would not smoke or they would quit smoking and that the Government has no place in trying to stop them from starting or indeed to support them in quitting. That concept completely overlooks the factor that addiction brings in with any drug but particularly with tobacco. Tobacco kills around 5000 people every year. That statistic alone actually shows it is the most dangerous drug in New Zealand. I know we could argue about alcohol or about other drugs and the effects that they have on our communities but in terms of the number of people killed in New Zealand every year tobacco is the most dangerous drug. Around 80 percent of people want to quit smoking but they cannot because of their addiction so we have to forget the argument about personal responsibility. 
Most people start smoking when they are too young to make a rational sensible decision. By the time they have decided that they want to quit it is too late. They cannot do it on their own and we here in the New Zealand Parliament need to bring measures into place that not only stop people from taking up smoking in this first place but also support people to quit smoking when they make that decision—when they take that personal responsibility to get themselves away from tobacco. That is why we on the Opposition benches thoroughly support this inquiry. 
The inquiry is a continuation of years of effort. In fact if people look at Appendix D in this report they will see a history of the tobacco control measures that have been taken in New Zealand. Various Governments over the years have taken a systematic approach to trying to reduce the normality and acceptability of tobacco smoking in New Zealand. We have done that by taking smoking out of workplaces bars and restaurants. We have got rid of tobacco advertising and sponsorship of sport. It seems like the most ridiculous thing to have a drug that kills half the people who use it sponsoring something that is supposed to be a healthy activity like sport. Over the years those things have occurred and we have seen the prevalence of smoking and the number of cigarettes smoked in New Zealand each year drop. This report says and it is admirable that we need to step that effort up. 
The report has provided us with a date for an end game. This report says that by 2025 New Zealand should be smoke-free or as close to being smoke-free as possible. I would like to dwell on that because most submitters who came to the select committee said the date should be 2020—and for good reason; it is 5 years sooner. Absolutely we would like to see the smoking rate cut 5 years sooner but the committee went for the 2025 date simply because we think it is a more viable prospect. In fact it becomes more incumbent on Parliament and on successive Governments to achieve that situation by 2025. A 2020 target could easily have been dismissed as being ambitious but non-binding and as not really being a goal that we ever intended to meet. We absolutely intend to meet the goal by 2025 through a range of means: banning tobacco displays; introducing plain packaging; getting rid of the last of the sponsorships through exclusive supply arrangements which still exist at events like Rhythm and Vines and fashion shows; cutting back on the additives and restricting the additives; being more open with tobacco users about the additives that are actually in tobacco; and having a target for Maori who are disproportionally affected so that they too get down to a zero smoking rate or as close to it as possible by 2025. That necessitates having a target for Maori because their smoking rates are so much higher than those of Pakeha.