Brown Peter: Smoke-free Environments Amendment Bill — Procedure Referral to Health Committee Instruction to CommitteeCWH In Committee 
Brown Peter: Smoke-free Environments Amendment Bill — Procedure Referral to Health Committee Instruction to CommitteeCWH In Committee 
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PETER BROWN (Deputy Leader—NZ First) 
: 
 I am a non-smoker and I have been a non-smoker for— 
Jill Pettis 
: Do you ever do anything? 
PETER BROWN 
: —probably longer than that member has been a smoker. If the member thinks I have not had an enjoyable life I tell her that she is completely wrong. Indeed I have never known the member to be right so it is no surprise she is wrong yet again on something else. 
We hear of people going down to the pub or the club to have a cigarette after work so they do not smoke in front of their children. 
Hon John Tamihere 
: You don’t go to the pub to have a smoke; you go to have a beer. 
PETER BROWN 
: They go to the pub and the club so they do not smoke in front of their children. What is wrong with that? Why do we not trust New Zealanders to make their own decisions? Why can the owner of a bar not make the decision as to whether the bar is a smoke-free bar? Why can the owner of a club not make the decision as to whether the club is a non-smoking club? I accept that there should be a standard as to air quality and we will be supporting Peter Dunne’s amendment in that regard. I know that we can change air very very rapidly. Does the member in the chair Steve Chadwick disagree? I tell members that a ship’s hold can suck out air faster than one can say the words. [ 
Interruption 
] 
There is a serious side to this. This is robbing people of their freedoms. People have a legal right to smoke. Do members want to see schoolteachers leave the school area totally—the buildings the playground—stand on the sidewalk and smoke cigarettes in front of everybody? 
Rod Donald 
: In front of the schoolchildren. 
PETER BROWN 
: Is that what members want? Damien O’Connor laughs; he thinks it is funny. It is a sad thing to see teachers go out and stand on the pavement to have a smoke. It is terrible and I think we should respect the rights of all teachers. 
Hon Damien O'Connor 
: Do you think they should do it in front of pupils? 
PETER BROWN 
: Let me put it this way: I would prefer a little bit of honesty a little bit of integrity and a little bit of respect in this. I have a very high regard for teachers. 
Hon Damien O'Connor 
: And marijuana too? 
PETER BROWN 
: I am glad the member brings that up because I find the Greens’ position on this absolutely loopy. 
Hon Peter Dunne 
: Why are you surprised? 
PETER BROWN 
: Only a year ago Rod Donald from the Greens was advocating that everybody who supported the Greens should go and make a public protest by smoking cannabis cigarettes in front of everybody then get in their cars and drive home. That is what he was advocating and at a public meeting when I said he had one of his members going out doing that he said: “No I’ve got two.” Those people think it is responsible to advocate smoking marijuana and then driving home. That is an absolute disgrace. They then complain about people going into a pub or a club and getting the smell of cigarettes on their jackets or whatever. I say to the Green Party members that they should not go in the pub or the club; they should sit at home and do their thing there. 
I have every sympathy for those who join the Returned Services Association. Its members fought for this country in the war and some fought for Britain in the war. They are entitled to go to their club and watch the All Blacks beat the South African and Australian rugby teams and have a cigarette and a pint of beer. Members on the other side of the Chamber know it is only fair that those people should be entitled to do that. 
I see in this bill that people cannot smoke in internal spaces on a ship but that they must go outside to smoke. 
Sitting suspended from 6 p.m. to 7.30 p.m. 
PETER BROWN 
: I was saying how stupid this bill is when it comes to ships. To illustrate the point people on a tanker cannot smoke outside the wheelhouse or the accommodation; they have to confine their smoking within the ship—[ 
Interruption 
] Even Mr Duynhoven knows that. Now we are debating legislation that states that people have to go outside where there is a huge fire risk to the ship and to the well-being of the people. That is how daft this bill is. That is just one aspect of it. I urge members to rethink this bill and amend it so that it makes sense. Or they could look at my amendment which suggests that the matter should go to public referendum. 
I raise a point of order Madam Chairperson. The Hon Peter Dunne moved a motion at the beginning of the Committee stage to refer this bill back to the Health Committee. Our vote was mistakenly cast as a split vote when it should have been 13 in favour of the motion. I seek leave to have that vote—