9. Question No. 9—HealthHon Dr AYESHA VERRALL (Labour) to the Associate Minister of HealthQuestion No. 9—Health9. Hon Dr AYESHA VERRALL (Labour) to the Associate Minister of Health: Does she stand by all her statements and actions?Hon CASEY COSTELLO (Associate Minister of Health): Yes—in particular those that relate to my absolute commitment to the Smokefree 2025 target and to providing practical targeted help so that smokers who are addicted can quit.Hon Dr Ayesha Verrall: Is it correct that she indicated she wanted advice from the Ministry of Health on a tobacco excise tax freeze in a document she annotated and signed on 20 December?Hon CASEY COSTELLO: Yes in relation to a range of advice there was a component that asked for the implications relating to the excise tax freeze.Hon Dr Ayesha Verrall: In that case why did she deny requesting specific advice on an excise tax freeze for cigarettes in an interview with Guyon Espiner?Hon CASEY COSTELLO: I did not state that I had not requested specific advice. I had sought advice on a range of issues which included that one.Jamie Arbuckle: What do the latest statistics say about the smoking numbers?Hon CASEY COSTELLO: I'm pleased to announce that the latest New Zealand Health Survey figures released in December show that the daily smoking rates among adults have more than halved in the last decade from 573000 in 2011-12 to 284000 last year. Smoking rates have reduced significantly in the last two years; another 55000 people stopped smoking in the last year alone. This drop in daily smokers is reflected across all ethnic groups but significantly drops have been seen in Māori and Pacific peoples where we have seen drops from 37.7 percent to 17.1 percent and 22.6 percent to 16.4 percent respectively between 2011-12 and 2022-23. This supports the reasons for continuing on the trajectory that we're on.Hon Dr Ayesha Verrall: Is she seriously saying that she requested advice on the tobacco excise tax freeze but because the document canvassed other matters she was being truthful when she denied having sought the advice to the media?Hon CASEY COSTELLO: I was being truthful at the time in relation to that statement. Being offered something and asking for something are two separate matters.Hon Dr Ayesha Verrall: Was the Prime Minister wrong when he said in statements to Radio New Zealand this morning that she made a mistake?Hon CASEY COSTELLO: I would never say that the Prime Minister was wrong.Rt Hon Chris Hipkins: Point of order Mr Speaker. Earlier on in question time today I asked the Prime Minister whether the Government had sought any advice on freezing excise on tobacco and the Prime Minister indicated that he was not aware of that. We've now had it confirmed by the Minister that in fact she did ask for that advice and there are media reports where the Prime Minister has been publicly discussing it. The Standing Orders make it clear that if a Minister makes a mistake in their answers they have to come back to the House and correct that at the earliest available opportunity. Fortunately the Prime Minister is still in the House and therefore should be able to correct it now at the earliest available opportunity.SPEAKER: Unfortunately the answer was that there was a range of advice in the paper concerned so I think the pedantics of how it was answered are a different matter. I'll hear from the Rt Hon Winston Peters.Rt Hon Winston Peters: Mr Speaker you've had two questions and one of them a point of order that don't seem to be listening to what was said. If you request advice and get other than that advice—extra advice—it does not mean that you requested the second lot of advice that you didn't seek in the first place. It's not complicated and words do matters in this Parliament. And surely they do matter to the media who've so badly reported this matter in the first place.Hon Dr Ayesha Verrall: Speaking to the point of order no I believe the issue under discussion here is whether a Minister made a decision in writing to seek advice on a particular matter. It is not a matter of receiving as the Deputy Prime Minister has suggested unsolicited advice.SPEAKER: I make the suggestion that people consider the Hansard of all of this and then take any position they want to take to the Speaker in the usual manner.