Bond Ria: Customs and Excise (Tobacco Products—Budget Measures) Amendment Bill — First Reading Second Reading In Committee Third ReadingText is subject to correctionBond Ria: Customs and Excise (Tobacco Products—Budget Measures) Amendment Bill — First Reading Second Reading In Committee Third Reading[Sitting date: 26 May 2016. Volume:714;Page:11447. Text is subject to correction.]RIA BOND (NZ First): I am proud to rise on behalf of New Zealand First and take this short call in the Committee of the whole House on the Customs and Excise (Tobacco Products—Budget Measures) Amendment Bill. New Zealand First recognises that smoking is harmful. We do not encourage nor do we support smoking. What we do support is for members of the public to have access to programmes that inform the public of the health risks associated with smoking. We have seen over the years on cigarette packaging the graphic details and warnings. In fact there are about 14 of those graphic warnings that have come on to the cigarette packets.There is overwhelming evidence to support the notion that what stops people from smoking is the right information the correct education and the time and support of not only their family but also members of the community. In Invercargill we have a great programme that helps smokers who choose to quit and we have a really good wraparound service throughout the agencies that in fact does help those who really do want to quit quit—not for financial reasons but for the reason that it does not look quite so good in their family and on account of the pressures that are being put on parents.This tobacco tax is the most efficient way that this Government can gather revenue and that revenue is coming from a legal activity that targets law-abiding citizens and I question along with other members in this Committee today where the $425 million would go to. New Zealand First wants assurances from the Minister of Health that the $425 million revenue grab will in fact go towards what New Zealand people need and that is smoking cessation programmes. What we do not want to see—and I think the Minister stood up earlier and directly avoided the request from this side of the Chamber for assurances about this. We wanted the assurance that the money that is gained—the $425 million—would in fact go back into these programmes and not go back into the coffers to prop up a failing population-based funding formula in this country.We here in the Committee should remember that there are many harmful things out there in our communities like vehicle exhaust emissions; food that leads to obesity diabetes and tooth decay; and alcohol which in my opinion leads to instant deaths on our roads and that is a damn tragedy. Alcohol is more dangerous than cigarettes because alcohol has far more social harm associated with it and we know this. The question is why alcohol has not been factored into the equation and taxed like cigarettes have been. We see daily on the TV that we have alcohol rehab advertising saying: “If alcohol affects your life please come to us.” I would like to see alcohol not simply being looked over as being a problem to our society. In fact it does weigh heavily within our health system.It is high time that this Government gets a grip because smoking is legal. It is a darn well legal activity. All tobacco products are legal yet time after time smokers in New Zealand continue to be heavily penalised for the freedom to choose whether they want to smoke or not. This is a ruthless tax target that targets the activity of a large number of New Zealanders who are already on minimum wages and low incomes. This is a ruthless tax on our poor.Smokers should not be classed as second-class citizens and we have seen how this has occurred. There is no smoking in pubs any more there is no smoking in public any more and in fact we have just heard that there had been a proposed ban for smoking in vehicles that you own as a New Zealander. Smokers are forced to hide behind the back of buildings like they are some kind of dirty second-class citizens. We need to remember that these are law-abiding people who choose to smoke and self-fund their addiction. That addiction is nicotine. We have also heard in the House in the first and second readings’ calls that smokers fund their health issues by three and a half times the health cost to that individual.This tobacco tax will have unintended consequences like smash-and-grabs from our dairies black market tobacco sales grow-your-own-at-home tobacco incentives and making people choose between a bottle of milk or a packet of cigarettes. The actual price of this tobacco tax will be the price on our community’s safety and our health and our well-being. When I looked at this bill I thought about how this would affect my area Invercargill and I thought about deprivation. I want to inform the Committee how this tax would affect my area in Invercargill—18.2 percent of Invercargill’s population over the age of 15 smokes compared with a national level of only 13.7 percent.