Dunne Peter: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Dunne Peter: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:614;Page:10440] 
3.  
Hon PETER DUNNE (Leader—United Future) 
 to the  
Associate Minister of Health 
: Has he been advised of any compliance cost implications from the passage of the Smoke-free Environments Amendment Bill? 
Hon ANNETTE KING (Minister of Health) 
 on behalf of the 
 Associate Minister of Health 
: Yes he has. However the compulsory costs have been kept to a minimum. 
Hon Peter Dunne 
: In view of the provisions of the Act that require in just 27 days the outdoor entrance of every school classroom and building in New Zealand to be labelled as a no-smoking area firstly has the Minister advised schools of their need to comply within that length of time and secondly will her ministry be making an appropriation to cover the costs or is it something schools are expected to cover out of their operating grants at the moment to the detriment of the children they are supposed to be educating? 
Hon ANNETTE KING 
: There will be a nominal cost to schools to provide external signs at all entrances. The Ministry of Health is working with the Ministry of Education to keep this cost to a minimum. 
Russell Fairbrother 
: What is the annual estimated cost of treating diseases associated with smoking in New Zealand? 
Hon ANNETTE KING 
: There is a considerable cost to New Zealanders from the impact of smoking. For example the health costs alone including hospital costs are estimated in 1992 dollars at $202 million a year. 
Hon David Carter 
: How many Ministry of Health officials will be employed to police the smoke-free environments legislation and will the Minister assure the House that this number of staff will be able to cover adequately the whole of New Zealand? 
Hon ANNETTE KING 
: There are no plans to increase the number of smoke-free officers or health protection officers who currently exist. There are now 17 dedicated smoke-free officers in New Zealand and their job is to oversee the current legislation. There are 117 health protection officers in relation to food issues toxic substances and so on. There is no intention or plan to increase the number of them at this stage. We want to give this law a chance—to see how it goes. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: What is the total revenue take for the Government from taxes on cigarettes and tobacco and is it not 3½ times higher than the figure the Minister has just given us for the costs? 
Hon ANNETTE KING 
: I do not have with me the exact number of dollars from cigarette revenue but I gave the member the cost to the health sector only. The only research we have in New Zealand to show the cost was done by Brian Easton in 1997 and it showed a cost of $22 billion. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I think we are entitled to raise by way of point of order the question as to what the Minister meant when she said $22 billion. Did she mean the whole world? 
Mr SPEAKER 
: That is the Minister’s answer and she is entitled to give it. It was a specific answer. 
Heather Roy 
: Did the Associate Minister give any regard to the Ministry of Health’s proposal last year in the 5-year plan for tobacco control in New Zealand for its “cost-saving strategy for the health sector” to transfer the enforcement of smoking laws to the police; and how does he square that proposal to require the police to enforce these laws with the Government’s claim that anti-smoking laws are about social change and not policing? 
Hon ANNETTE KING 
: Obviously the Government did not consider giving this matter to the police. No provision was made for that and it is not likely to be. 
Hon Peter Dunne 
: What assurance can the Minister give the House that every school in New Zealand will meet the requirement of the Act to have every outdoor entrance labelled as a non-smoking area by 1 January 2004 in view of the fact that the Act was passed only last night and may not yet have received the royal assent and that most schools are closing for the holidays in the next couple of weeks—or is this provision just some new employment programme for the summer to get people out there painting the signs? 
Hon ANNETTE KING 
: I think the member is assuming that there will be some gold-plated sign applied to the building. I think we will find that schools have enough time between now and when they return at the end of January to put in place a sign stating that they are non-smoking areas.