King Annette: Customs and Excise (Tobacco Products—Budget Measures) Amendment Bill — First Reading Second Reading In Committee Third ReadingText is subject to correctionKing Annette: 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:11445. Text is subject to correction.]Hon ANNETTE KING (Deputy Leader—Labour): I am very disappointed that I have been unable to participate in the first and second readings of this bill because urgent public business took me elsewhere but I have followed it as much as I could and have been impressed by the calibre of the debate on this bill from the Opposition members. This is the point where we now have the opportunity to ask—and the opportunity for the Minister to answer—some very direct questions. I am sure that the Associate Minister of Health the Hon Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga will be very willing to answer such questions because he is getting wide support for this bill today. And because it does not go to a select committee and there is no opportunity for scrutiny by the public therefore I think this is the chance to ask those questions and for the Minister to answer.I am interested in the Minister informing the Committee how much of the revenue of the $425 million that will be gathered over 4 years will go into public health—that is public health. I am not talking about elective surgery or a bowel-screening programme; I am talking about how much will go into public health. I know the Minister is not responsible for all of the Budget but he is a powerful Minister in terms of his advocacy for his part of the health portfolio—or he ought to be—and he covers what is public health.One thing we have seen in the eight Budgets of this Government is the reduction in money going into public health and public health programmes. Of course everybody likes to say that prevention is better than waiting until somebody gets sick. It is a mantra—we ought to prevent things prevention is so important early intervention—but if you do not have an emphasis on it and you do not put the money in to help make it happen then it is just hot air and words.So I would like the Minister to tell us how much will go into anti-smoking assistance and programmes to help people stop smoking. How much is going to go into health-related issues that are often associated with smoking—mental health for example? How much will be put into the mental health budget to help those who smoke stop smoking? How much will be going into other areas—for example obesity? There is a link between smoking and obesity. These are very important public health questions. There is over $100 million a year in revenue that will be gathered and that needs to be spent. Imagine if you put that money into public health in New Zealand what a difference you could make.My fear I have to say is that it is going to be used in the consolidated account. Maybe some will go into health but we are looking at a Prime Minister who wants to have some big fat tax cuts for a few people next year and it would be wrong—morally wrong—to take money off those who smoke and put it into a tax cut for those who need it the least. This money needs to be health-related. I think any levy ought to be related to the product or the activity so that if you are taking money off alcohol in terms of excise duty or levies or if you are taking money off gambling then it ought to go alongside the public health programmes that are put in place. So Minister this is a serious question that perhaps you have not yet worked out or have not yet managed to twist the Minister of Health’s arm on but I would look for your advocacy in this area.I also want to know what has actually happened to your separate tobacco control plan. It is all very well using one lever—one lever—in the whole fight against tobacco consumption and prevalence but if it is only one lever it is not going to be enough to reach a smoke-free New Zealand by 2025. You told me in September that the Government had announced developing a separate tobacco control plan and then in February when I asked again it was still developing a tobacco control plan. Am I to expect as each month goes by that I will be told that the Government is developing a separate tobacco control plan? Where is the plan? What is in the plan? Will it include for example stopping smoking in cars when children are in them? Minister you replied to me and said that you are opposed to smoking in cars. You are also considering banning smoking in cars as part of I presume a tobacco control plan. So it was very interesting to those of us on the select committee to learn that the Ministry of Health is not proposing a ban on smoking in cars because the Government is not interested in it. So there is a disconnect between what this Associate Minister wants and what the Minister of Health is saying.If we are going to have a separate tobacco control plan Minister it needs to have a number of elements in it. One of them has already been mentioned—plain packaging—and you will know that I have asked you many questions on this and on when you are going to bring forward the bill that sits on the Order Paper. You said that the Government has got a very busy programme this year. Well I know that but how important is trying to help prevent people smoking? Is it of lower importance than some of the fiddly little bills we have had in this place that have taken up a lot of time? Is not the health and wealth of New Zealand and the well-being of New Zealanders far more important than some of the legislation—the dross—that goes through here on a daily basis?I am wondering whether you have got the punch that is needed to give what you want in this area of health. You are an Associate Minister—I understand that you have a Minister over you and obviously his interest is not as great as yours—but I am looking to this Associate Minister to be able to bring forward a separate tobacco control plan that looks out to ensure that we are smoke-free in 2025. That is what we want in this House. That is what most New Zealanders want. But without a plan—and a forward-looking plan—to do it all we are doing is tinkering around the edges.I also want to know what has happened to the public consultation on the Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products because you did tell me that it was going to be tabled in this Parliament in 2016. We are nearly in June—when will it be tabled? I have listened to the comments from the speaker from New Zealand First talking about what might happen with illicit trade in tobacco the growing of tobacco the black market in tobacco. One of the things that took place last year was public consultation on a protocol and it was going to be used to produce a national interest analysis to assess the pros and cons of New Zealand becoming a party to the protocol. So I want to know Minister what is happening in this. Are we going to sign up to a protocol? When will it be available? Is it 2016 or is it also—like many of the other measures—being put on the back-burner?This is one measure. We are supporting it. We do know that price is a major driver in terms of stopping people smoking. It is not about punishing New Zealanders because they smoke. You see I have always had this theory: why should we allow tobacco companies to kill poor people? Why should we allow it? That is what they do. They target their tobacco prices at those on the lowest incomes to keep them hooked. They target our kids to keep them hooked. I do not believe we should allow that. And we should take every measure we can to help New Zealanders stop smoking to give them the tools to assist them—because there are good tools out there tools that can assist. We ought to be putting our investment into that area because we know that the biggest cancer killer in New Zealand is still smoking.Minister I am urging you to take this opportunity to answer those questions because the public cannot ask them of you—there is no opportunity and there is no opportunity for select committee submissions. This is your moment Minister to stand and tell the people of New Zealand what you intend to do with the revenue that is raised—that it is not just a revenue grab but that it is going to be used to help New Zealanders give up a habit that is leading to their disease or death. That is a very serious issue.We have made good progress over many years right back to the first legislation in 1989 when Helen Clark passed the very first tobacco control legislation. I have to say that you Minister are one of the first who have actually supported it putting aside Tariana Turia. National opposed every tobacco measure until Tariana became the Minister of Health. When I was Minister she was my Associate Minister and she was pushing it then. So this is the opportunity for this Minister to stand out as a Minister interested in tobacco control.