Blue Jackie: Excise and Excise-equivalent Duties Table (Tobacco Products) Amendment Bill — First Reading Second Reading Third Reading 
Blue Jackie: Excise and Excise-equivalent Duties Table (Tobacco Products) Amendment Bill — First Reading Second Reading Third Reading 
[Volume:662;Page:10570] 
Dr JACKIE BLUE (National) 
: 
 I am proud and privileged to rise to speak to the first reading of the Excise and Excise-equivalent Duties Table (Tobacco Products) Bill. As a former doctor and an ex-smoker I think this is a courageous and bold step by the Government. I congratulate Minister Turia and the National Cabinet on agreeing on this bill passing through the House and I am delighted it has the support of other colleagues in the House. 
Colleagues will be interested to know that I started to smoke when I was 16 and I eventually stopped when I was 30. I smoked through university I smoked through medical school and I smoked through the hospital wards. I stopped by the time I was a general practitioner. I had cancerous and diseased lungs paraded in front of me when I was a medical student and when I was on the hospital wards I saw emphysemic patients and patients dying of lung cancer. That did not stop me from smoking; that is what addiction does to people. I turned a blind eye. Of course this all happened around the 1970s. Some warnings were coming to the surface but addicts ignored them and carried on puffing away. The warnings made me slightly uneasy but I carried on. By the time I got to general practice I decided it was time I should give up smoking and fortunately nicotine gum had come on to the market. Until then there was just cold turkey and that was it. I had already failed on one attempt with cold turkey. To me nicotine gum made perfect sense. We give the active ingredient of the addictive substance which is nicotine to smokers and we wean them off cigarettes just as we do with drug addicts by using methadone. It made perfect sense I took the nicotine gum and it worked with me. Of course it made me more proactive as a general practitioner when I had my patients who were smokers in front of me. I could relate to them. I knew what addiction was like what the substance was like and what it could do to someone’s mind. 
I know that the Hon Annette King made comments that a lot of people are just social smokers and are not addicted. I say that most people who smoke are addicted. There are a few social smokers who can stop at the drop of a hat but they are few and far between. I think that most smokers are addicted. I was very active in talking to my patients who were smokers. I said: “Look smoking will catch up with you some way and some how in the future if you don’t stop.” That is true as smoking harms every single organ in the body. We have heard tonight that it is responsible for up to 5000 deaths per year and that includes those from heart disease cerebrovascular disease lung disease and lung cancer. It damages the blood vessels and in particular the small blood vessels. It affects the blood vessels in the feet it causes peripheral vascular disease eye diseases and so on. It affects every single organ. 
Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) made a comment on one of its fact sheets that 50 percent of regular smokers are killed by their addiction and on average they lose 14 years of quality life. That is a staggering statistic—50 percent or half of all regular smokers will die from smoking and will lose quality years. Of course we know that Maori are overrepresented in the statistics. Once again I congratulate Minister Turia on pushing through this legislation and the National Ministers who have supported her. 
Then there is the cost of smoking to society and to New Zealand as a whole. In 2005 it was estimated that smoking cost almost $2 billion in lost production from early death morbidity and illness smoking directly and healthcare costs. Fortunately I had nicotine gum when I decided it was time I had to practise what I preached and gave up. Now there are many nicotine replacement options available for those who want to give up. There is gum there are transdermal patches and there are sublingual tablets inhalators and nasal spray. There are also subsidised pharmaceutical treatments. I am sure there are a lot more out there that need to be funded and this bill may be the catalyst for that to happen. 
In total $57 million has been put into cessation products and organisations that help those who want to stop smoking. The research proves that increasing the price of tobacco is the single most effective way to get people to stop smoking or to not even start in the first place. This bill will increase the excise on tobacco in three steps of 10 percent over the next 2 years. We know that excise on loose tobacco has traditionally been much lower and that will also increase by 14 percent to bring it into line with cigarettes. This is not a revenue-gathering exercise—absolutely not. This is as the Hon Ruth Dyson said about health promotion about changing lives and about saving lives. I acknowledge the very important work of Quitline. I expect it will be very much busier as a result of this bill. People can phone or text the organisation they speak to an adviser and they get a quit pack and a quit card enabling them to get subsidised nicotine replacement from chemists. 
This is a wonderful step. It was the most logical step for this Government to take. We know that the ban on smoking in bars and restaurants has been widely accepted. There has been a change of mood. People accept that. Most smokers now are not in denial as I was for those 15 years when I smoked. Most people accept that cigarettes are harmful to them and cause illness and death. The sincere hope from this Parliament tonight is that increasing the price of cigarettes will stop people smoking and stop young ones from starting to smoke in the first place. I am delighted to speak to this first reading. It is a wonderful step by this Government. I congratulate Minister Turia and I commend this bill to the House.