Baldock Larry: Smoke-free Environments Amendment Bill — Procedure Referral to Health Committee Instruction to CommitteeCWH In Committee 
Baldock Larry: Smoke-free Environments Amendment Bill — Procedure Referral to Health Committee Instruction to CommitteeCWH In Committee 
[Volume:610;Page:7943] 
LARRY BALDOCK (United Future) 
: 
 I suggest that the correct title of this bill should be the “Smoke-free Restricted Environments Amendment Bill” because I believe that it is missing out on some environments that are crucial. We are hearing a lot about the environment of the workplace and other environments that are mentioned in the bill but I want to focus some comments this evening on two environments that I believe are crucial if we are serious about protecting people from the harm that is caused by second-hand smoke. I will be referring to children in this regard and perhaps in some ways to those 50 babies that the member mentioned before who are supposedly dying every year as a result of being exposed to second-hand smoke. Whether it is 50 children or whether it is five I believe that issue is very serious for us as a nation. This bill does not address their needs. I believe therefore that it falls very far short. 
It is good that environments such as schools pre-schools and passenger-service vehicles such as school buses taxis and so on are covered by this legislation. But there are two environments that are not covered which is why I say the title is wrong. The two environments that I want to talk about are the private car and the home. I think probably those two environments contribute more damage being done to children in our country than any of the other environments. If babies are dying as a result of being exposed to second-hand smoke that exposure is most likely occurring in the home environment or when they are cooped up in the family car where mum and dad puff away with the windows up and the children gasp for fresh air. 
I have some sympathy for those smokers who are having their rights curtailed by this bill for the good supposedly of all non-smokers and for general health benefits as a whole. It would be reasonable for us to ask people to give up their rights if that would be for the benefit of the public health of all New Zealanders and if it would provide safe clean air for everyone. But I am concerned that children are being significantly missed in this bill and it is simply because we are afraid to make the hard decisions—the unpopular ones—and protect those who need protecting. Adults can always choose the environments they sit in or eat in or what pubs they go to but children often have no choice at all. This bill does address issues such as pre-schools and schools but it is the cars and the homes that I believe are crucial. 
Whenever we talk about homes of course we hear a great hue and cry about invasion of privacy about how could we ever pass a law to stop people from having the freedom to smoke in their own homes. But let us face it we would not allow parents to abuse their children in their own homes. It would not make any difference to us if that child abuse were occurring in a private home or in a public place; we would be in there like a shot to prevent it. Yet we are not prepared to do anything about children who are exposed to second-hand smoke day in and day out during their lives in their own homes or in their own cars as they travel around this country. We simply want to attack the easy options and not deal with the difficult ones. The Hospitality Association has said: “Well if you’re going to pass a rule make it one rule for all.” I say OK let us make it one rule for all—one rule for children and adults as well. Let us make sure that everybody has a right to clean fresh air. 
I was brought up in a home of smokers and as a result I began smoking when I was about 14 years of age. I was a serious smoker by the time I was 16 before I had left school and by the time I was 21 I was smoking 30 cigarettes a day. I used to give up all the time and I became very good at it. After becoming a Christian at 22 years of age I did finally manage to give up smoking and I am very glad that I was able to do so and I am very glad that my children have grown up as non-smokers as well. Often as a Christian I was asked: “Is it a sin to smoke?”. I would always of course refer them to the words of Jesus when he said: “Nothing passing into the mouth defiles a man. It is that which comes out of the heart that defiles us.” Smoking is unhealthy however and we should avoid it if possible. I will be voting against this bill—unless we see some amendments to it to make it more sensible—but not because of any religious understanding about smoking. In fact there is a good story that can put us straight in that regard—