Harawira Hone: Excise and Excise-equivalent Duties Table (Tobacco Products) Amendment Bill — First Reading Second Reading Third Reading 
Harawira Hone: Excise and Excise-equivalent Duties Table (Tobacco Products) Amendment Bill — First Reading Second Reading Third Reading 
[Volume:662;Page:10588] 
HONE HARAWIRA (Maori Party—Te Tai Tokerau) 
: 
 Tena koe Mr Assistant Speaker. Kia ora tatou katoa. When Minister Turia began this debate under extraordinary urgency she said there are only a few matters before this House on which one could stand with one’s hand on one’s heart and declare that this was a life and death debate. This bill the Excise and Excise-equivalent Duties Table (Tobacco Products) Amendment Bill she added is purely and simply about saving lives. Today we celebrate another step in saving the lives of New Zealanders addicted to tobacco—in reducing the number of our citizens who die in their thousands every year from smoking. For the benefit of those who want to know exactly what we are talking about I say it is about trying to put a dent into wiping out the equivalent of the whole population of Kaitaia every single year. 
For us as the Maori Party the cause is made even more dramatic because every year Maori gather to commemorate the lives of the 600 sons of the Maori Battalion lost in the 5 years of the Second World War and yet we mourn alone the 600 lives of Maori people stolen every year by the decisions of British American Tobacco Imperial Tobacco Group Philip Morris and others to maximise their profits from a product that addicts and kills people. 
Today is a big day and an important day not just for Maori but for the whole country as we take another step on the march to save the lives of 5000 Kiwis lost every year to tobacco. It is a march begun by smoke-free activists like Dr Papaarangi Reid Shane Bradbrook Dr Marewa Glover Ben Youdan Moana Maniapoto Mere Wilson and many many others. It was aided by organisations like the Health Sponsorship Council Te Hotu Manawa Maori the Quit Group Te Reo Marama Aukati Kai Paipa Auahi Kore the Global Smokefree Partnership Smokefree Northland Hapai Te Hauora Tapui Action on Smoking and Health Tala Pasifika and all of the others that have been working for years to bring down our smoking rates. 
Today’s step is one of the hardest that we will ever take because today we take the tough decision to increase taxes: 14 percent goes on to the tax on roll-your-owns followed by another 33.3 percent on all tobacco products in the years ahead. We do that not just because we think that it might help to reduce smoking and improve health outcomes; we do it because the World Health Organization’s  
Report on the Global Tobacco Epidemic 2008 
 stated that increasing the price of tobacco through higher taxes is the single most effective way to decrease consumption and encourage tobacco users to quit. 
When people tell us that tax increases will not win us votes we tell them that some things we do not do just for votes; we do them because they are the right thing to do—some things are more important than winning votes. When people say that smokers will not be happy we can tell them that in fact 80 percent of smokers want to stop and that they tell us that anything we can do to help them to stop is a bonus for them. We know that putting up the price will also force people to cut back on their smoking but more important it will also provide a strong incentive for smokers to quit. If it helps to convince young people not to even start then that is great as well. We can tell the other ones that even though smokers might not be happy they can be sure that most of their whanau will be happy if this tax increase helps smokers to stop smoking. Yes it is true that increasing the price of tobacco is a tough measure for those who do not have a lot of money anyway but the truth is that we are dealing with one of the most addictive substances in the world. It is a substance described by medical researchers as being even more addictive than heroin. 
Tobacco is the largest cause of preventable death and disease for Maori. It is a cost that no nation can sustain and it is a cost that no family should have to bear. But we have to and we do and I constantly ask myself why that is the case. If a faulty part in a car was responsible for even two deaths that car’s manufacturer would be sued for millions of dollars. If another country was responsible for the deaths of just a couple of hundred of our citizens we would go to war. But here we are losing 5000 of our country’s family to the tobacco industry every year and we do very little to stop that. The industry is driven by multibillion-dollar tobacco giants that are directly responsible for the huge social and economic cost to our country. There is the insurance cost for fire property health and for life itself. There is the cost to our health sector of chemotherapy radiotherapy and surgery. There is the stench that cannot be washed out of clothes the lingering stink in homes offices cars and workplaces the damage to the unborn child the suffering of children who are trapped in a smoker’s car the loss of earnings of those who are in care the loss of years for those who smoke and the loss of life that every family is forced to bear. 
I take this opportunity to thank all of my colleagues on the Maori Affairs Committee—our chairperson the Hon Tau Henare Simon Bridges Paul Quinn the Hon Parekura Horomia Mita Ririnui and Kelvin Davis—for the work being done by the committee as part of the inquiry into the tobacco industry and the impact of tobacco on Maori. I also extend my thanks to Metiria Turei Carmel Sepuloni and Su’a William Sio for their attendance and their support. I also thank Iain Lees-Galloway for his attendance the other day. I would like to remind all members of this House that although our inquiry is specifically targeted at Maori we knew going into the inquiry that if we were successful in bringing forward legislation to slow and hopefully to stop the tobacco industry in its tracks the benefits that would flow from that decision would enhance the lives of all citizens of Aotearoa—Maori Pasifika Pakeha Asian and all other peoples who have come to call this land home. The fact was that we simply could not see how Parliament would allow us to mount an investigation into the tobacco industry until one night Shane Bradbrook of Te Reo Marama who has been a critical part of our inquiry and a dedicated and committed anti-tobacco activist came up with the bright idea of using the Maori angle in order to get the inquiry going. 
We have been to different parts of the country to hear submissions from victims from families from doctors from nurses from health agencies and even from British American Tobacco itself to build a case for our final report to Parliament which I understand will come before the House in July this year. I have seen my colleagues grow in their commitment to our task and I have heard some excellent speeches from them in tonight’s debate. That encourages me in the last couple of months ahead of us. So on behalf of our committee I wish to thank the Minister for the inspiration that this bill gives us in the work that we have yet to do and in the challenge of preparing and providing a report that truly reflects the feelings that we have been witness to the damage that we have heard evidence of and the recommendations that are needed if this country’s children and grandchildren may one day enjoy a world that is tobacco-free. 
When I knew that I would be speaking in this debate tonight I actually prepared an attack speech because I thought we might be really up against it on this one. But I was wrong—deeply wrong. So I express my sincere thanks to all speakers tonight—speakers from all parties—for their forbearance in this bill being brought to the House under extraordinary urgency for the depth of their contributions and for their support for this initiative. 
Four years ago I attended a hui where I shared the goal of getting tobacco out of Aotearoa by 10 December 2010. My timing might be just a wee bit out but we take another step on the road to a smoke-free Aotearoa with this landmark bill tonight. Speaking of smoke-free initiatives and smoke-free bars and restaurants let me take this opportunity also to add for the second night in a row my special thanks to Mr Tukoroirangi Morgan. I did so last night for his work in bringing the Waikato-Tainui Raupatu Claims (Waikato River) Settlement Bill through to its second reading and tonight I do so for his work in preparing the smoke-free bars and restaurants legislation which he unfortunately was not in the House to see pass but which I know he was happy to see become part of the fabric of this nation. 
The Maori Party is proud to stand tonight to honour our co-leader the Hon Tariana Turia the Minister who is responsible for tobacco control for her persistence with this bill for her courage and for her commitment to help to save lives to reduce— 
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER 
: I am sorry to interrupt the member but his time has expired.