Wall LouisaLOUISA WALL (Labour—Manurewa): Tēnā koe e Te Māngai o Te Whare. As the chair of the Health Committee I'm very much looking forward to the deliberations on this the Smoke-free Environments (Prohibiting Smoking in Motor Vehicles Carrying Children) Amendment Bill. The history of this legislation actually goes back to 2004 when doctors globally and medical professionals highlighted the issue. Essentially they said that no level of ventilation will eliminate the harmful effects of second-hand smoke in cars.The discussion here in Aotearoa on the relevance of that research actually happened in 2010-11 under the auspices of the Māori Affairs Committee in their inquiry into the tobacco industry in Aotearoa and the consequences of tobacco use for Māori. So I want to acknowledge the members of that Māori Affairs Committee for bringing this kaupapa to the House because in fact one of their 42 recommendations was to look at our smoke-free environments legislation. In certain areas that they said that we should be looking at the prohibition of smoking in vehicles carrying children was in fact one of those contexts. That was reinforced last year by the Health Committee and the Māori Affairs Committee who wrote a joint report which was about achieving our smoke-free 2025 goal for Aotearoa New Zealand. And again a recommendation of that process was that we should look at vehicles carrying children.I want to take the opportunity to acknowledge Associate Minister Salesa and also our coalition partners New Zealand First and the Greens for actually bringing this piece of legislation to the House. It for us is about putting children at the centre of legislative reform so if people want to question why we've done this and belittle it actually what they're doing is belittling the fact that we're prioritising children.In terms of an international context the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended the implementation of comprehensive smoke-free legislation in 2005 when they established the international Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. We are one of 180 countries to ratify that convention. What they did was highlight that we had to protect our citizens from exposure to second-hand smoke by introducing comprehensive smoke-free legislation. And why? Why did they want us to do that? Because essentially 600000 deaths per year and 11 million disability-adjusted life years per year are a consequence of second-hand smoke. It means 166000 child deaths each year and in Aotearoa New Zealand that's 350 deaths per year. So if anyone wants to belittle the relevance of this piece of legislation I seriously think they should look at the rationale and the international imperative for countries like ours to join the UK to join Canada to join South Africa to join Australia to join Puerto Rico to join states like Ontario and Nova Scotia in Canada and to join Maine California Arkansas and Louisiana. So this initiative is a global initiative that helps all of us reduce the impact of second-hand smoke. What I want to highlight is that this piece of legislation isn't looking at criminalising people. The reality of a $50 fine is that we don't want to criminalise people. So I want to acknowledge that the police are going to be arbiters of that process. They are our enforcement agency. So what we are asking them to do is be part of a conversation that we want to have with New Zealanders about how important it is to protect our children within a context that now we know causes serious harm. That harm leads to cancer; it leads to asthma as my colleague Dr Liz Craig highlighted; children who develop respiratory tract infections; emphysema for those later in life. But the reality is children have smaller lungs they have higher respiratory rates they have immature immune systems and people who smoke in contexts where there is no ventilation are actually killing our children.So we're here collectively as a Parliament to ensure we do everything to prevent what is the most preventable death and illness in the world. Smokefree actually is a concept that I think as a Parliament we bought into. I want to take the opportunity to also as my colleague Shane Reti did acknowledge the people of Northland because it was the people of Northland in 2015 who signed a petition—over 2000 Northlanders. They were mobilised to do so because they undertook a piece of research by the Northland District Health Board that found that 26.72 percent of Northland's year 10 students were travelling to school in cars where someone was smoking. So this is community action. You know this is what we should respond to as a Parliament—not only the voice of those academics and the World Health Organization and the fact that we signed this international framework convention but also real people living in real communities and for this particular piece of legislation the people of Northland. The person who collected that petition and I want to acknowledge her was Marama Fox who travelled to Kaitāia to do so. I know our colleague Shane Reti was involved when they brought that actual petition to the House. But what I also want to acknowledge actually is the leadership of Māori: the Māori Affairs Committee initially as I highlighted who undertook that inquiry; the Māori Affairs Committee with the Health Committee who again chose to undertake an assessment about where we are in terms of Smokefree 2025; and the Māori members of the Northland community and the greater community. This isn't just a Māori issue but actually the Māori in that community were motivated to bring the kaupapa to the House.I've heard that there are issues that some people have about some of the sections and clauses in the bill and you know what I know about our Health Committee—and I have to acknowledge my colleagues in the House who are on that committee particularly from the Opposition the Hon Michael Woodhouse and Matt Doocey. I do want to acknowledge that we are incredibly collaborative and we will work diligently to make sure that we produce a piece of legislation that I hope the National Party will actually support at the third reading. That's the goal. I know that there will be more than three people who submit Matt because there are communities that are incredibly passionate about making sure that the legacy of smoking—which actually if you know a little bit about Māori history is a continuation of colonisation. We didn't smoke—it was introduced to this country—but we seem to be the most disproportionately affected by it. So I guess this is an opportunity and I'll put it out there. You know we want to hear from communities about how relevant this is. We want to hear from communities about how important it is that this Parliament prioritises children. We want to hear from young people themselves. I know Children's Commissioner Becroft has spoken about the relevance of this bill. He said it affects over 100000 Kiwi kids. So Mr Becroft let's put the message out there and let's provide this context and this opportunity for young people themselves to tell us as politicians how relevant and how important this piece of legislation is to them. I think actually the select committee have to be really serious about how we advertise the bill. I'm also recommending that we use channels that young people are engaged in and try and encourage as many of them as possible—at intermediates at secondary school and actually maybe at primary school—to take the opportunity to participate in this piece of legislation because the reality is we're doing this to put children at the centre of policy. Tēnā koe e Te Māngai o Te Whare.Bill read a first time. Bill referred to the Health Committee.