Brown Peter: Smoke-free Environments Amendment Bill — Third Reading 
Brown Peter: Smoke-free Environments Amendment Bill — Third Reading 
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PETER BROWN (Deputy Leader—NZ First) 
: 
 Let me start by saying that all New Zealand First MPs are opposed to smoking in terms of what it does to people. I know we have one smoker in our midst. [ 
Interruption 
] He is very famous and a very effective politician but I can tell members that he does not recommend smoking to anybody. Smoking is a habit an addiction arising from habit. I can say that there is not one New Zealand First MP who will recommend it to anybody. We are totally opposed to encouraging young people or anybody to take it up if they do not already have the habit. 
But this bill is not the way to address the issue. I say to those members over there and I think many of them are sincere that if they are really concerned about smoking to the degree they say are they should ban it. They should make it illegal but they should not stand in this House and talk about the virtues of tossing people on to the street. Those members should not talk about the virtues of saying: “I am going to walk into a pub and you are going on the street to smoke.” because that is not the way to go. If they are really passionately against smoking they should ban it but right now it is a legal activity. 
I have five children and none of them smoke. I smoke the odd cigar. With a glass of whisky it goes down very well. But it is only the odd cigar—one every 5 or 6 months. I am looking forward to Christmas because my wife says I can have another cigar at Christmas. 
Earlier on somebody spoke about freedom. I think the emphasis was put on freedom to work in a smoke-free workplace and on freedom of choice to walk into a pub that allowed smoking—if one wanted to have a smoke—or to walk into a pub that was a non-smoking pub. I want to talk about the freedom we all enjoy as a result of the guys who put on khaki and the guys who put on the light blue and the navy blue. They put themselves on ships and in aircrafts—Spitfires—in the Battle of Britain. There were Kiwis there and they were very fine soldiers. They fought not only for the freedom of this country but for the freedom of the Western World. They put it all on the line. Many of them came back—thank God—but many did not. Those who came back had been encouraged to smoke by previous Governments. They had been given free cigarettes and were encouraged to smoke and relax. They were encouraged to go into the mess room and have a beer and a fag. 
I say to members that there are still some of these folk alive now although they are getting pretty ancient. They go down to their Returned Services Association club and watch the All Blacks on a big television screen and they order their pints of beer and they have a cigarette. Imagine if one of the people who support this bill walked into a Returned Services Association club. It is a cold winter’s day and the All Blacks are about to play. There is old Joe who fought for this country in the war. He might have Ron Mark with him because Ron Mark has a definite connection with military people and ex-military people. He might indeed have the Rt Hon Winston Peters with him because there is definitely an affinity between old soldiers and Winston Peters—they love him. He might even have me there. There is an affinity and an empathy between merchant navy officers or ex - merchant navy officers and people who fought for their country. [ 
Interruption 
] That member has plenty to say. What if he were to walk in there and see Joe smoking? Would he ring for the enforcement officer? If he is not prepared to ring the enforcement officer and say: “Come here Joe is smoking.” then he should not vote for this bill. If members do not have the gumption to ring the enforcement officer they should not vote for this bill. It is meant to be a conscience vote. If they cannot turn old Joe in then they do not have the gumption to do the job that they are advocating that somebody else should do. 
Imagine if the enforcement officer came in. If the bar manager or the barman behind the bar or the man in charge is not actually there when the enforcement officer comes in—and he can come in with a camera a video and an air-sampling machine—that officer does not even have to tell anybody that he is an enforcement officer. If the person in charge is not there when he walks in he does not have to say that he is an enforcement officer. What would old Joe do? He could be quite nervous now. He could think that this guy who has walked in is an enforcement officer so he might run to the toilet. It is raining outside it is cold outside so Joe runs to the toilet. Under this legislation the enforcement officer can follow him to the toilet and photograph him smoking. 
If the members over there want to vote for that they are not voting for New Zealanders. There is not one New Zealander that I am aware of who would support that. [ 
Interruption 
] Lynne Pillay has got plenty to say. Does she agree with secret cameras? That is what can happen under this bill. I was speaking to the Hon Damien O’Connor only a little while ago and I asked him whether I could divulge to the House the information he had told me and he said that yes I could. There has been only one prosecution of restaurants in the umpteen years— 
Steve Chadwick 
: So why are you worrying? 
PETER BROWN 
: Because the Government is putting the fear of God into New Zealanders who fought for this country; that is why I am worried. That member knows that this law is not going to be policed. Government members know that if they would not turn Joe in they certainly would not turn in Black Power gang members if they were smoking in their local pub. Those members should have the courage of their convictions and say that this is not right. This bill is not fair on New Zealanders. It is not fair on the young ones and it is not fair on the old ones. I guarantee that there would not be many young New Zealanders who would turn in their grandfather or their great-grandfather—not one of them. As much as they do not like smoking they would not turn them in. 
This bill is ridiculous and to prove just how ridiculous it is let us take the clause on ships. Who the dickens is going to police the ships? Steve Chadwick in response to a question earlier on this afternoon about a tanker carrying inflammable goods—the crew of which would never ever smoke outside the shell of the ship—said that an officer cannot smoke his pipe or cigarette in the wheelhouse. He is the only one there for goodness’ sake. 
Hon Taito Phillip Field 
: Give it away. 
PETER BROWN 
: I have 2 minutes. I think the member wants me to have an extension of time. I think he is learning something. I think I have touched his conscience. I think Lynne Pillay is now worried. She is going to vote for the spy brigade. What chance of success does this legislation have when 17 enforcement officers are going to carry it out? 
Lynne Pillay 
: I would be 6 inches taller if my parents hadn’t smoked. 
PETER BROWN 
: I think the member wants to tell me something. There are people who currently go to a bar and a club so that they do not smoke at home. They go to a bar and a club so that they do not smoke in front of their children or their pregnant wives. What do members think this bill is going to do? Those people are going to go home and smoke in front of their children. 
Lynne Pillay 
: Ha ha! 
PETER BROWN 
: The member laughs. I can tell her that my own father quite a while ago—he was an ex-soldier—did not smoke in front of me and my sister because he did not want to encourage us. He would go down to the pub have his cigarette and his beer there and come home. This bill is going to force those people home. There will be some who give up smoking as a result of this; there will be others who do not. There will be young women who go on to the street to have a cigarette because they cannot smoke inside a hospitality house. That is absolutely ridiculous. 
Jill Pettis 
: Where have you been all these years? 
PETER BROWN 
: Jill Pettis should ask her husband. He is an ex-sailor. I think he has done a little bit for the country. She should ask him.