Hutchison Paul: Inquiries — Inquiry into the Tobacco Industry in Aotearoa and the Consequences of Tobacco Use for Maori —Report of Maori Affairs Committee 
Hutchison Paul: Inquiries — Inquiry into the Tobacco Industry in Aotearoa and the Consequences of Tobacco Use for Maori —Report of Maori Affairs Committee 
[Volume:669;Page:15959] 
Dr PAUL HUTCHISON (National—Hunua) 
: 
 Thank you very much for the opportunity to speak on the Maori Affairs Committee’s report on the  
Inquiry into the tobacco industry in Aotearoa and the consequences of tobacco use for Maori 
. I too would like to offer my congratulations to Hone Harawira and the Maori Affairs Committee on the terrific work it has done in bringing this hugely important issue to the attention of the House. 
Firstly I point out that tobacco was very much part of New Zealand’s culture right up until the 1960s. In fact it was very much part of the culture of the Western World right up until the 1960s. Tobacco was more or less prescribed by doctors who smoked heavily themselves and of course it was given to all the members of the armed forces who became addicted. In the decades since then we have witnessed the awful suffering that those people went through as they died from lung cancer throat cancer lip cancer etc. It was not until about the 1960s that Sir Richard Doll discovered the link between tobacco smoking and lung cancer. It was a very detailed and elegant piece of epidemiological work that took a great deal of time to finally prove and of course it was met with great opposition by the tobacco industry. 
That is why this particular report is so important: because it is an inquiry into the tobacco industry particularly in Aotearoa where Maori are dealt such a huge blow in terms of both mortality rates and morbidity rates that are far greater than those of the rest of the population. Nevertheless I felt that Hone Harawira was particularly controversial when he suggested that the Health Committee had failed to do anything over the decades. After all I must acknowledge that the last Labour Government brought in the Smoke-free Environments Act which was extremely positive and which I personally voted for because I felt it was an important public health preventive initiative. 
One must say that about only 15 years ago in New Zealand our buses aeroplanes and restaurants were full of smoke and whether or not people smoked they breathed in second-hand smoke and were suffering in their thousands. The smoke-free environments legislation has been particularly useful but it was preceded by a hang of a lot of work by a great many people including Action on Smoking and Health New Zealand led by Dr Laugesen who has worked tirelessly in this area both internationally and nationally for years. 
I also think Professor Beaglehole should be mentioned for his extraordinary work on the epidemiology of this problem throughout New Zealand. As an obstetrician I have of course been deeply concerned that thousands of cohorts of New Zealand babies have been condemned in the womb—condemned in the womb—to being stunted in growth and probably also stunted in their intellectual opportunities later in life. 
There is no doubt that this inquiry is particularly timely. It will lead to legislation which I understand will be introduced tomorrow that will bring us one step further in the battle to achieve an essentially smoke-free Aotearoa. 
Sitting suspended from 6 p.m. to 7.30 p.m.