O'Connor SimonSIMON O'CONNOR (National—Tāmaki): I am very pleased to take a call on the Smoke-free Environments (Tobacco Standardised Packaging) Amendment Bill. I want to acknowledge the two speakers and particularly the Associate Minister of Health Sam Lotu-Iiga who have spoken but we have effectively just had an issue raised that we are behind the Australians and that we should be the first movers so I thought I might just attempt to impart a little axiom that might help. It is quite true that the early bird catches the worm but it is actually the second mouse that gets the cheese. So I think that in this case we are in a good space. I begin by acknowledging the Minister for the work that he has led to bring this bill to the House—I think in a timely manner but also very quickly. We have moved through a very good and thorough select committee process and so in thanking the Minister can I thank also all the members of the Health Committee not only for their support of this bill but also for the process as a whole. As I often try to do as well I thank the officials and advisers who have played their part. But I want to also echo Sam Lotu-Iiga's thanks to those who are working out there in the sector day after day to reduce smoking in New Zealand. We have a real and excellent goal in making New Zealand smoke-free by 2025. We in this House have a small part to play in this legislative approach but it is actually the hundreds if not thousands of Kiwis who are working every day in our hospitals GP clinics health outreach and Quitline who are doing an amazing job. I want to thank too the various public health lobbyists. I am not going to name all of them. There are a good number who have emailed phoned tweeted and the like to me so I want to thank them for their advocacy as well. This is an important piece of legislation. This is the legislation that stands beside a whole raft of dynamic approaches the Government has taken. We had some in urgency earlier this year as well around the Budget—changes there once again targeting smoking. I think that is important. I was going to say smokers" but actually this is not targeted at people per se; it is targeted at the action of smoking. So one of the first and important elements—and it has come out from both speakers so far—is the whole semantic change between talking about plain packaging and standardised packaging. Fortunately the Minister has been very kind to give me what is a very dramatic example—this enlarged cigarette pack. Fortunately packs are not this big although if we made all packs this big we might actually see a bit of a reduction as well. Importantly this is about standardised packaging. We initially had it around plain packaging. It is very clear certainly for those who can see this visually that this is not a plain pack. Really importantly as with current cigarette sales there are very graphic warnings that are going to be there so people can understand the consequences of what they are doing. What makes it standard though is basically the text and the format to try to ultimately take away any attraction that can be associated with the difference between brands. I certainly know through talking particularly to young people but not exclusively to them that there can be a play-off between different brands: "Well I am smoking this versus that." We want to take the glamour away. We also are very conscious that there is still a battle. The figures overall are very good and I have said it in earlier speeches that the overall numbers for smoking decline are excellent but when you de-aggregate there are some sectors in society that we still have to keep working with. I want to stress that—not working at but working with. I want to again acknowledge the work that Ministers lead in that space right across our various age groups and ethnic groups. I also want to just talk very briefly around what is sometimes called a wash-through period. This is a transition period. Once this bill comes into force and the regulations are in play obviously this product is still out on the shelves. So importantly I think 6 weeks—well it is a 12-week wash-through period. In other words from the time when this becomes a law and is in play there is going to be a total of 12 weeks to get the old stock off the shelves. It is not going to happen overnight. Distributors have about 6 weeks to get their product out into the stores. They have got that 6-week period and then 6 weeks after that the actual suppliers—so dairy owners service stations and the like—have 6 weeks to clear the shelves. It is something that we have thought about and discussed. I think it is actually a very prudent model. We still respect to a degree people's choices in this space and the need for businesses to prudently destock but we are looking forward to having this law in play soon. I am very pleased to commend this bill and the Minister's work to the House."