Ardern Shane: Smoke-free Environments Amendment Bill — Referral to Health Committee Procedure In Committee 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Ardern Shane: Smoke-free Environments Amendment Bill — Referral to Health Committee Procedure In Committee 
[Sitting date: 15 October 2003. Volume:612;Page:9237. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
SHANE ARDERN (National—Taranaki - King Country) 
: 
 Who would have thought that we would stand here in the Chamber of this Parliament with a Labour Government that is going to abolish smoko? This trade union - funded Government is going to abolish smoko. Who would ever have thought that? How could one ever have considered that that would happen? Labour members should just think about what the descendants their forebears down on the West Coast of the South Island where the Labour Party was born are saying in the Hokitika pub tonight. This Labour Government is to abolish smoko. 
To find out what the publicans and the real people of New Zealand think of this legislation I went out to the Whangamomona pub. I know that the Prime Minister will know where that is—the first republic in New Zealand the republic of Whangamomona. I asked the publican what he thought and he said that the legislation was stupid and he would not prohibit smoking. Then I asked the patrons in the bar what they thought and they said it was absolutely stupid and they would not stop smoking. They said they would ignore the legislation. I asked the horse in the bar what he thought—and he did not answer. So I asked the “republican” what the horse was doing in the bar and he said that they could not tie him up out on the road because he runs away home and then the patron has to stay all night because he has no way of getting home. So the horse is brought into the bar but he had no view on this bill. He was the only one in that pub who did not have a view on this bill. All the rest were opposed to it. I thought that I needed to consult more widely so I went to the Awakino Hotel and asked its proprietors. The Awakino Hotel was where the 1996 election campaign was run. Its proprietors said that this legislation would close them down; they would not be able to afford to comply with this legislation. 
So then I thought that I had better come back into the metropolis of Stratford and ask members of the Returned Services Association what they thought of it. They said they had gone overseas—and my father’s name is registered there; he went with them—and when they were over there the Parliament of New Zealand issued them with cigarettes to ease the stress. That is what happened to them and most of them are now addicted. Some of them did not smoke before they went overseas but the Parliament of New Zealand used to issue them with army cigarettes to ease the stress and they all came back from the war as smokers—every single one of them. And they said that now the people they fought to defend are telling them that they cannot come into their Returned Services Association premises and enjoy a fag. Here they are in the Returned Services Association premises in Stratford enjoying themselves and not causing any problems for anybody—not out on the streets causing mayhem like the group that the politically correct group in the Government supports. None of that! They are certainly not protesting naked in front of the Parliament or doing any of that sort of stuff. They are there in the Returned Services Association premises looking after themselves and minding their own business and the PC group in the Government is telling them that they cannot have a fag there. They said they have news for the Government: they may be old and small in numbers but they can still vote that lot out. And if the Government goes ahead with this stupid piece of politically correct legislation they said that is what they will do. They said the Government only needs to look at that to see where it will be going. 
One of the comments earlier on was interesting when one of my colleagues talked about the camaraderie of returned service people. The senior Government whip asked what the member meant. I know that if one is in the Labour Party one would certainly not know anything about camaraderie—that is for sure. But I also know that Labour members know about comrades. They have learned a lot about comrades over the years—not about camaraderie—and that is what this bill is about. It is about the comrades and the “sisterhood” uniting—for the first time ever since they have been together—and they are coming up with this legislation to stop the old diggers in the Stratford Returned Services Association from going down there and enjoying a pint and a fag in the last few days that they will have. 
 My old father went away to the war in 1940 and came back in 1945. He was totally addicted to cigarettes. The monsoon visor in the old Vauxhall was so black that the tar used to drip on top of one. If I ever pulled it down and had a look underneath then I could not hold my tea down. My father smoked pipes and cigarettes the whole time that I knew him and I hated it. I absolutely hated that. As a kid growing up—sitting in the back of the old Vauxhall waiting outside the Returned Services Association with all the cigarette smoke in there—I hated that. Like most young people I flirted with a bit of cigarette smoking as a young person but did not keep it up for long as I absolutely hated it. But I can see absolutely no reason for this stupid piece of legislation.