Horomia Parekura: Customs and Excise (Tobacco Products—Budget Measures) Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Horomia Parekura: Customs and Excise (Tobacco Products—Budget Measures) Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
[Sitting date: 25 September 2012. Volume:684;Page:5599. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA (Labour—Ikaroa-Rawhiti) 
: 
 Labour wholeheartedly supports this legislation the Customs and Excise (Tobacco Products—Budget Measures) Amendment Bill. We said it before the election and we said it after the election. I want to commend Minister Turia for the effort that she has put into it. 
In relation to the tax take it is quite fascinating that some of the policies that this Government has laid out on a platform of a whole lot of rhetoric are not going anywhere like Whanau Ora. I hope that the returns of this tax take can be seriously put to use to support a whole lot of the unnecessary gaps and the real pressure and areas of poverty where a lot of people are not getting serviced or supported because of the lack of finance. It is interesting to see that unlike National when it was in Opposition Labour supports this. 
Around one in five adults currently smokes in New Zealand. That is still a high percentage. I know that amongst Maoridom respiratory diseases for a whole host of reasons are not helped by the smoking issues. I know that in my family my wife and my mother had emphysema and that still runs rampant amongst a lot of young people. Generally smokers like my mum—bless her who has passed on—would not stop. They would do it right to the end. That was because they were more than addicted; it was a way of life. For people to carry on and say that it is OK is just outrageous. Certainly the effect on the body is that it does not just affect the lungs or the respiratory system; it affects that whole body. It is something that we should join together as a nation to ensure that there is a decline in over time because more than 700000 New Zealanders still smoke. That is a lot of people. 
What else is interesting is what is done with the tax. It is interesting that the good old duty-free shops have ducked and dodged because not many of the ones who are disadvantaged and who smoke go through them but there are a whole lot of other people who go through them. Again there is an imbalance in relation to the delivery of services and whatever else. In 2004 we along with two other countries became the third country in the world to ensure that smoking stopped inside restaurants and bars. If you can recall there was an uproar about it and how unnecessary it was. It is such a treat now to go anywhere and nobody smokes inside. There are some inventive ways—I saw on a balcony the other day people were allowed to go outside and smoke and they might get arrested but they might get away with it for the rest of the time too. New Zealand does set a good example and we just need to do better. 
The issue for me is the tax take where it goes and what it does. It should be expended alongside and utilised in the sense of cessation programmes—not stopping them—and helping our people the young ones especially stay off it. I see your finger raising up there Mr Assistant Speaker so I will end there. Thank you very much.