Worth Richard: Smoke-free Environments Amendment Bill — Procedure Referral to Health Committee In Committee Speaker Recalled In Committee Speaker Recalled  Speaker Recalled In Committee Procedure 
Worth Richard: Smoke-free Environments Amendment Bill — Procedure Referral to Health Committee In Committee Speaker Recalled In Committee Speaker Recalled  Speaker Recalled In Committee Procedure 
[Volume:613;Page:9985] 
RICHARD WORTH (National—Epsom) 
: 
 I intend to confine my remarks to Part 3 of the Smoke-free Environments (Enhanced Protection) Amendment Bill although I think the words “Enhanced Protection” have been stripped from the legislation. I know that what I say tonight would have the support of Action on Smoking and Health representatives if they were present in the Chamber. I want to speak to my amendment which is set out on Supplementary Order Paper 106. It makes changes to a provision that has been the subject of earlier comment: clause 8A which inserts new section 23A relating to compliant product displays. The short point is that without my amendment being passed two paragraphs in the bill as presently drafted limit to 100 the number of tobacco packages to be displayed and limit to 40 the number of tobacco cartons to be displayed. The commercial result of that restriction will be that retailers will not display cigars. The displays will be limited to cigarettes and cigarillos. 
I do not accept the health arguments that lie behind this bill but for the purposes of what I now say that is irrelevant. This bill is not about restricting legitimate commercial activity. For as long as it remains lawful to sell tobacco and related herbal products provisions like that should not find their way into the legislation. The bill proposes that retailers will not need to meet the display limitation in respect of cigars which in any event are carried by non-tobacconists in limited numbers only. I have explained briefly the context in which my Supplementary Order Paper 106 finds its place. The result of the bill as drafted—and I ask the member responsible for the bill Steve Chadwick to reflect carefully on this proposition—is that a grossly anti-competitive outcome arises. That is because the permissible number of packages on display will be far less than the number of different packages that are available on the market. The outcome will be that retailers will be forced to deny display opportunities to many slower-selling brands and that is quite contrary to the principles of the Commerce Act. The consequence will be that only the major brands will be on display thereby depriving minor brands of the opportunity to compete against them. 
It is a sadness for me that issues like this should be the subject of a conscience vote—and for some parties they are. However in the case of the present minority Government while this may be in some nominal sense a conscience vote the reality is very very different indeed. The reality is that this will be a directed vote with clear guidance and riding orders being given to Labour Party members to vote this legislation through. That is why I say to the member in the chair Steve Chadwick who has current charge of this bill that careful consideration should be given to the merit of Supplementary Order Paper 106. I am uncertain whether she is a cigar or cigarillo smoker; she may very well be. But even if she does not smoke them I would think that it should lie within her heart to give consideration to the undoubted merit of the amendment. 
The cigar market in New Zealand is less than 0.2 percent of the total tobacco market and the product has no appeal to children. In fact it is smoked by few adults. Yet that legal product—and I am talking of cigars—will simply disappear from display shelves because even the small amount of display space cigars require will be allocated to fast-selling brands of cigarettes. If this amendment is passed a minuscule amount of permitted display space will enable those few adults who choose to smoke the occasional cigar to be aware of the different and competing products available to them.