Katene Rahui: Excise and Excise-equivalent Duties Table (Tobacco Products) Amendment Bill — First Reading Second Reading Third Reading 
Katene Rahui: Excise and Excise-equivalent Duties Table (Tobacco Products) Amendment Bill — First Reading Second Reading Third Reading 
[Volume:662;Page:10568] 
RAHUI KATENE (Maori Party—Te Tai Tonga) 
: 
 In the 2008 election campaign one line in the Maori Party policy statement established a precedent for this legislation today. That commitment was to introduce a “Tobacco out of Aotearoa Bill”. Today the Excise and Excise-equivalent Duties Table (Tobacco Products) Amendment Bill expresses our heartfelt commitment to saving lives. I congratulate Tariana Turia on having the courage and foresight to do what she knows is right to do what we all know is right. It is not right to lose our loved ones prematurely to chop 15 years off their lifespans—lifespans that in the case of Maori are already less than they should be. It is not right that too many children are growing up vulnerable in their own homes to the impact of smoking-related illness and premature death. It is not right that too many babies are being exposed to tobacco-related harm in utero. The bill is long overdue. 
The Maori Party celebrates the fact that we know of the amazing potential this bill offers for Maori communities to benefit. The rate of smoking amongst Maori is about double the rate for the rest of the population and a disproportionate number of Maori die prematurely. Maori in all age groups have higher smoking rates than non-Maori. In particular Maori women have the highest smoking rate of all groups at 49 percent. 
Another interesting fact that emerged from last year’s study of Maori smoking and tobacco use is that 73 percent of Maori smokers use roll-your-own tobacco. The Associate Minister of Health has spoken of roll-your-own tobacco being seen as a cheap alternative. This bill now puts a stop to that perception. Roll-your-owns will now face the same tax rate as tailor-made cigarettes. 
I have no doubt that given this profile of Maori smokers today’s moves will not be universally popular within our constituency. Indeed no doubt I will have a job to explain this development to my own son and daughter who are smokers. I am not sure that the answer “mother always knows best” will work with them nor might that other well-known slogan “it is for your own good” but we are standing right behind the Minister and the Government on this move because of our great love for our people. This policy places love on the agenda. 
This policy places bread and butter on the agenda. If we assume that the average smoker smokes about 4000 cigarettes a year quitting completely would save that smoker around $2100 a year now and around $2700 in 3 years’ time. That means more money for kai for the whanau. But it is about more than what money can buy. The whole purpose of this legislation is that people will be prompted to stop smoking. Even if an average smoker who cannot quit was to cut down by just one cigarette a day today and eventually up to three fewer cigarettes a day then that would offset the price rises. 
As I said before however we are not just talking about having more cash in the pocket; there is a massive cost to the system as well. An estimate in a 2007 study on tobacco taxation in New Zealand suggested that the cost of smoking to the health system was between $300 million and $350 million per year. However I understand that some more recent estimates have put that figure up as high as $1 billion to $1.6 billion per year. That massive cost to taxpayers could be put to a much better use than seeing good money literally going up in smoke. But it not about just how much this will cost. The Maori Party supports an increase in the price of tobacco first and foremost because of the substantial health gains that can be achieved. We will support any intervention that reduces the number of premature deaths illnesses and hospitalisations related to tobacco use. 
A decade or so ago our co-leader Dr Pita Sharples was the poster boy for a campaign called “It’s about whanau”. The campaign featured 12 ex-smokers describing their motivation for giving up. The campaign focused on the well-being of the whanau by supporting whanau members who smoked to quit and to stay quit. I can remember Pita’s advertisement in particular. It described his reasons for giving up as being all about his mokopuna. It is a powerful message that we must continue to uphold. Our marae are deprived of far too many Maori leaders of kuia and kaumatua. We lose our people too early and with that we lose the transmission of vital knowledge about whakapapa our cultural heritage. We must be smoke-free if we are to fully explore our potential. 
There has never been a better time for this tobacco tax increase to happen. The support and strength that whanau will need to live a healthy smoke-free lifestyle is totally consistent with the need for investment in whanau that we see associated with the flagship policy of this Government: Whanau Ora. 
The Maori Party acknowledges the significance of the whanau and the importance that Maori place on the maintenance of our whakapapa as a very powerful resource in helping whanau to be auahi kore. To my son and my daughter I say that it is all about whanau. Together we can support each other to quit and support our rangatahi to never start. We must ensure that smokers are part of the solution and ensure that we restore to our whanau the respect that we must place on the first breath of life. It will not be easy but who ever said that sitting by a hospital bed and watching a relative suffer from lung disease was easy? Where is the joy in counting off the cousins with cancer of the lung head neck oesophagus pancreas and cervix and with heart disease? The key challenge for us all across this Parliament is to get in behind this new bill and promote the value of staying smoke-free. 
The Maori Party believes that the Government has a vital role in encouraging New Zealanders to quit smoking. I recall that a survey from the Health Sponsorship Council in 2008 found that some 63.9 percent of all people and 29.5 percent of current smokers agree that the tax on cigarettes and tobacco should be increased and that all the extra money should be used to help smokers who want to quit. We want to see funding for smoking cessation services increased to help smokers to quit including specific services designed for Maori and Pasifika peoples. 
This is a very important day for all our whanau. It is a day on which we live up to the promise that is in all of us for a healthy smoke-free future. We are proud to support this bill.