Jones Dail: Smoke-free Environments (Enhanced Protection) Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
Jones Dail: Smoke-free Environments (Enhanced Protection) Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
[Volume:609;Page:6614] 
DAIL JONES (NZ First) 
: 
 I should say at the outset that I am not a smoker. At a Christmas party when I was about 17 we were handed out cartons of cigarettes and beer. I went home and opened up one of the cartons of cigarettes and took a very long puff. It was obviously too much because that was the end of my smoking career. I should also say that I am an asthmatic and I am very appreciative of all the support given to me by the preceding speakers about my condition. I have had asthma for 40 years - plus especially since I came to New Zealand. 
I see that Dr Proctor one of the people concerned said that passive smoking could cause problems for asthmatics and there were people who did not want to be exposed to cigarette smoke but there was no scientific basis for a ban in public. I take Bricanyl every morning and usually every night and I take Flixotide every morning and often at night. In the winter I often have two or three puffs of each. I do not support this bill. I do not need someone to tell me what to do. I am a grown-up. I do not have to go to a bar. If it is full of smoke— 
Mark Peck 
: You’re pulling my leg! 
DAIL JONES 
: I listened to others in silence but it seems that the people who support this legislation have been affected by things. I can make up my own mind. People aged 18 can go off to war but now they will not be allowed to have a smoke in a bar. What sort of a country will we be? 
Pita Paraone 
: You can now become a prostitute. 
DAIL JONES 
: As one of the interjectors said one can now become a prostitute legally but one cannot have a smoke in a bar. What sort of a Parliament is this? I just do not know what the world is coming to. As far as I am concerned—[ 
Interruption 
] I will look after my own affairs thank you very much. I appreciate all the concern from the other members of this House. I will not go into a bar that has smoke in it. It is common sense. I do not need Steve Chadwick or Mark Peck to shout across the House. I do not need their support thank you very much. They are the last people I would seek support from. 
I will not go into a bar that is full of smoke. It is common sense for me. I do not go to casinos at all so if they are full of smoke that does not bother me either. When I go to a restaurant—and I will let the Labour people Darren Hughes and Mark Peck cackle away—I go to a smoke-free area and if there is someone next to me in the smoke-free area who is smoking I will complain and get him or her moved and I survive. I occasionally go to a restaurant. I go to soccer at the weekends. I go to see Central United at Kiwitea Street I have my slice of cake and tea at half-time with smoke flying around and I survive. I go to North Shore and have a beer after watching a game there. It is not a problem for me. I do the same in Waitakere City. That is not a problem for me either. 
I can exercise self-discipline. I do not need those Labour members to shout across the floor of the House and tell me what to do. For example I am concerned about all those people in the Returned Services Association. We have heard a lot about how smoking kills people but all these returned servicemen from the Second World War must be aged 80-plus. They are still alive and they are still smoking. What does that tell one about the statistics? They are still alive and they are still smoking. They were given fags to keep them calm in the Second World War. I think Darren Hughes Mark Peck and Co. should have a fag. Maybe that will calm them down from the way they are carrying on now. It is just a matter of choice. New Zealand First members will be voting according to their consciences. We will be taking various views on the issue. 
I thought I would do a bit of research. I have heard about the programmes the research and suchlike that have been done. I thought I would get on the Internet and find out too. I saw a reference at the foot of page 2 of  
The World Health Report 
. On the Internet we found an article in the UK  
Sunday Telegraph 
 dated 13 November 2002 which stated: “The World Health Organization which commissioned the 12-centre seven-country European study has failed to make the findings public and has instead produced only a summary of the results in an internal report. Despite repeated approaches nobody at the WHO headquarters in Geneva would comment on the findings last week.” 
Further down the article states: “The summary seen by the  
Sunday Telegraph 
 also states: ‘There was no association between lung cancer risk and ETS exposure during childhood. A spokesman for Action on Smoking and Health said that the findings seemed rather surprising given the evidence from other major reviews on the subject which have shown a clear association between passive smoking and a number of diseases.’ ” 
I was interested to see that the select committee report did not refer to the World Health Organization report specifically. There was a general sweeping statement because of course it does not have the World Health Organization findings. Clearly the World Health Organization findings do not substantiate the points that are being made. I challenge any member who supports this bill to put the World Health Organization report on the Table of this House and then we will see what it says. 
Of course the other report that is mentioned—and the Minister of Health can cackle away; I do not need her support either thank you very much—is“Woodward A Laugeson M”. That report has also been the subject of an investigation and this is a quote from 11 August 2002 in an article titled “Smoke claim disputed” in FreeRepublic.com a conservative news forum. “Public health experts Murray Laugeson and Alistair Woodward estimated 2 years ago that passive smoking was killing 388 New Zealanders a year including 50 babies. Of that number they calculated 243 were dying of heart disease 88 from strokes 50 from cot death and seven from lung cancer. But Dr Proctor said the overseas studies on which their research was based either showed weak findings or findings that had no statistical significance. ‘A lot of scientists including the US Surgeon-General have said “We are not convinced at this stage that second-hand smoke causes heart disease.” ’ Dr Proctor said passive smoking could cause problems for asthmatics”—that is me—“and there were people who did not want to be exposed to cigarette smoke but there was no scientific basis for a ban in public.” 
It is also interesting from an email I have just received that it seems that Dr Laugeson is the chairman of Action on Smoking and Health (ASH). We have all heard of ASH. Getting a report from someone who is the chairman of ASH is like getting a report from someone who is the chairman of the Society for the Protection for the Unborn Child saying that we should reduce abortions to zero. That is hardly an unbiased viewpoint from Dr Laugesen if he is the chairman of ASH. I would suggest that the information on which the Health Committee has relied is horribly horribly flawed. 
I indicated that I was concerned about the situation for the returned services associations. Many members who smoke became hooked while serving their country in World War II. I look around this House and every so often a member says to look on the walls at this battle and that battle or something else. Well they are people who have been there and done that. All they want in the last years of their life is to have a quiet fag in the Returned Services Association over a pint. This House is having a close look at the matter—and all the Labour Party members are the ones who are interjecting against me; I must say that no other representative of any other party in this House is creating a cackle other than members of the Labour Party. They seem to be determined to stop the old blokes back from the war from having a fag. 
Those responsible for establishing clubs do not expect to be told what to do in them. The Te Atatu Memorial Returned Services Association president Ian Gibson is reported as describing the bill as being “a challenge to our rights and to our self-determination” and I must agree with him. By being an asthmatic I am one of those people who are at the greatest risk in connection with this legislation yet I am quite prepared to look after my own self. I do not support a paternalistic State. That is clearly why I am not a socialist in the Labour Party. I can look after myself. Mr Woodhouse manager of the North Shore’s Cube Bar has said about this legislation—and this really sums it up— “If it’s that bad why don’t we just ban it altogether?”. That is what it boils down to. 
Finally I looked at the way in which this legislation is to be enforced and really the enforcement provisions are a joke. Smoking will continue. It will go underground it will be illegal and it will probably make things even worse for people. I oppose this legislation. Other members of New Zealand First will be expressing their views later.