Salesa JennySMOKEFREE ENVIRONMENTS AND REGULATED PRODUCTS (VAPING) AMENDMENT BILLSecond ReadingHon JENNY SALESA (Associate Minister of Health): I move That the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products (Vaping) Amendment Bill be now read a second time. I want to start by thanking the chair of the Health Committee Louisa Wall and all of the members of the select committee for your diligent work on this bill. This is a large and complex bill that amends the Smoke-free Environments Act 1990 in order to better regulate vaping and heated tobacco products in New Zealand. I'd also like to thank and acknowledge all the members of the public who submitted on this bill. I know that taking time to make a submission would have been more challenging during COVID-19. It's been clear to me that this is a bill that the public cares deeply about and the select committee process has proven no different. The committee received over 1200 written submissions—ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Ruth Dyson): Sorry. I wonder if members could show the Minister some respect and talk to each other in the lobbies or really quietly—both sides of the House thank you. Sorry to interrupt the member. Hon JENNY SALESA: The committee received over 1200 written submissions and heard 84 oral submissions from a wide range of submitters. This included submissions from vaping consumers businesses Māori and Pacific organisations health academics practitioners and the health sector in general. The bill was generally welcomed by submitters and it was clear that most believe that these regulations are important necessary and generally were striving for the same goals.It would be fair to say that we all want to see New Zealanders who are suffering from and dying from smoking-related diseases as something that is decreased in our country that we'd like our children and young people to have healthier parents and grandparents who stay with us for longer and that we all want to prevent our young people from using vaping products—and this means ensuring that they aren't attractive to or easily accessed by our children and youth.So the committee had a difficult task of trying to ensure that this bill strikes the right balance between supporting smokers to switch to less harmful alternatives like vaping products while at the same time protecting young people and non-smokers from the risks associated with these products.I won't highlight all the changes recommended by the committee but I will just briefly summarise some of the key changes that I believe will be of interest to most submitters and the House tonight. Many submitters were deeply concerned that generic retailers such as dairies and supermarkets would only be able to sell vaping liquids in tobacco menthol and mint flavours. They felt that reducing smokers' access to a range of vaping flavours would negatively affect their ability to transition and maintain their transition to vaping and may have significant negative impacts as well on generic retailers. These are valid concerns. However we must remember that we have the difficult task of balancing two goals within one bill: supporting smokers while at the same time protecting our young people and children and New Zealanders who are non-smokers and who have not taken up vaping ever before. The committee reports that it's necessary to keep the restrictions on flavours if we are to reduce the attractiveness and accessibility of vaping products especially to our young people. However if any future Governments wish to make changes to the flavours that can be sold by generic retailers they can easily do this through regulations.I'll turn now to advertising. I'm glad to see that the bill continues to prohibit major media advertising of vaping and smoking-tobacco products. It is not appropriate for our young people to see these addictive products being advertised on television radio or billboards. I'm also pleased to know that some submitters provided helpful comments and suggestions on advertising. Submitters stressed that quitting smoking is hard and a personal journey that is challenging and that we as Government need to ensure that smokers have access to accurate and tailored information to tools and support that will help smokers successfully transition to less harmful products including vaping. The committee has also listened to these concerns and suggestions and responded by making some technical and practical changes to the advertising provisions in the bill. For example the bill has been amended to clarify that regulations will prescribe the information that can be provided to customers by both generic and specialist vape retailers which was the policy's intent. The committee has also added exemptions to allow specialist vape retailers to communicate to their customers about vaping products and for manufacturers and importers to provide information to retailers about how to use vaping products.It was not intended that the bill would prevent research expert opinion or commentary that encourages smokers to switch to less harmful alternatives. So the committee has also added additional exemptions for these purposes.There were some submitters that had other concerns about the bill namely the implications that it would have for vaping retailers. They believed that specialist vape retailers should be able to sell their products online and that requiring specialist retailers to derive at least 85 percent of their sales from vaping products may not be realistic for some of these stores. These are fair comments and the committee has clarified in the bill that specialist retailers can indeed sell their products online if they also have a bricks and mortar store. The committee has also lowered the sales threshold for specialist vape retailers from 85 percent to 70 percent. Stores that derive 50 percent of their sales from vaping products will also be able to trade as specialist vape retailers for a transitional period of 12 months. This will provide retailers with enough time to decide if they would like to become a specialist vape retailer after 12 months and adjust their business model accordingly.I understand concerns were also raised about the impact that the bill has on the vaping market more broadly. Some submitters felt that the industry needs more time to be able to comply with the bill and were concerned in general about the extent and range of powers that the Director-General of Health will possess in relation to product safety to ingredients and to a small number of advertising provisions. The committee agreed that it is fair and reasonable for the obligation to comply with the product safety notification regime to come into force 12 months after the Royal assent rather than six months in order to ensure that the industry is in a good place to comply with the bill.In terms of the powers given to the director-general they are necessary powers. For instance we need the Director-General of Health to be able to act quickly to protect the public health if he is satisfied that a product or an ingredient may be causing harm. This is ultimately an issue of safety so the powers given to the director-general must remain. The committee has also accepted however that there is a need for greater transparency consultation and safeguards to protect the industry given the impact that the Director-General of Health's decision can have on the livelihoods of people working in the industry. A number of amendments have been made to support this. For example where the director-general has suspended or cancelled the sale of a vaping or smokeless tobacco product the manufacturer or importer of that product now has a right of appeal to the director-general's decision. Another amendment enabled the director-general to establish a technical advisory committee to assist in their decision making and exercise of powers.Finally I want to bring it back to our aspirations as a Government and what this bill is trying to achieve. We're an ambitious Government and we have high aspirations for the wellbeing of our tamariki children and young people. We've even set ourselves a goal of making New Zealand the best place in the world to be a child and would like our children to be New Zealand's first smoke-free generation. I strongly believe that this bill moves us further along that path in helping to reduce the number of New Zealanders who smoke and die from tobacco-related diseases and ensuring that our young people don't find vaping products attractive and easily accessible. I commend this bill to the House. Thank you.