Katene Rahui: Subordinate Legislation (Confirmation and Validation) Bill — First Reading 
Katene Rahui: Subordinate Legislation (Confirmation and Validation) Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:658;Page:7197] 
RAHUI KATENE (Maori Party—Te Tai Tonga) 
: 
 The Subordinate Legislation (Confirmation and Validation) Bill is the type of bill that is probably of most interest to lawyers. In essence this bill is all about confirming or validating specific orders and regulations. It is often all about the issue of timing: without the passage of further legislation the provisions of certain subordinate legislation would no longer be valid. Today’s bill is a mixed bunch in more ways than one. There are orders to amend the commodity levies for passionfruit summer fruit and satsuma mandarins. There are prohibition orders around exports and imports around toothfish and tobacco and a set of fees charges and levies around animal products. There is an indexation for alcoholic beverages and the non-grape wine levy. In short there are all the ingredients here for a party and I am not talking about a party of the political variety. This is where the Maori Party has a particular interest in the regulations and validating provisions that are under debate. 
Let me look in particular at the impact of this legislation on the excise duties for tobacco products. I have spoken before in this House about the concerns I have around the overuse and misuse of substances such as alcohol and tobacco. I come to this from a number of sources. As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints I am of course influenced by the Word of Wisdom code of health that we practise which tells us to avoid substances such as tobacco and alcohol. It is a personal position that sits very comfortably alongside the policy position we are advocating within the Maori Party. 
The facts are overwhelming. Just a month ago the Ministry of Health told the Maori Affairs Committee that Maori women have the highest prevalence of smoking of any group at 49.3 percent followed by Maori men at 41.5 percent. The ministry also reminded the committee that young Maori are more likely to smoke than other young people and that second-hand smoke exposure is higher amongst Maori than non-Maori. As a walk amongst our family urupa would tell us tobacco is the leading cause of preventable death amongst Maori and is known to cause cancers heart disease strokes and respiratory illnesses. Of course it is not just those with a cigarette in their mouth who have a problem. Tobacco products also harm non-smokers through exposure to second-hand smoke. Ministry of Health statistics show that smoking is a major issue for Maori in terms of health equity economic status and cultural identity. 
Given all of that the Maori Party is delighted to support the amendment in this legislation that makes a CPI inflationary increase to the rates of excise and excise-equivalent duties on tobacco products. This means that the annual adjustment in the excise duty on tobacco will ensure that the excise duty proportion of the price of tobacco does not become cheaper over time in real terms. In plain English tobacco products will not become cheaper to consumers in real terms as their income levels rise. 
The House will be aware that the Maori Party has successfully negotiated a select committee inquiry into the impacts of smoking on Maori. That inquiry will review the historical actions of the tobacco industry which promoted tobacco use amongst Maori and it will note the impact of tobacco use on the health economic social and cultural well-being of Maori. The inquiry will address the impact of tobacco use on Maori development aspirations and opportunities as well as including a range of policy and legislative measures to address any findings that may come out of that. The Maori Party will also introduce a member’s bill to ban the importation manufacture and sale of tobacco products in Aotearoa. But that is not all that we are doing. My colleague the Associate Minister of Health Tariana Turia is also doing everything possible to invest in the right people programmes products and processes to successfully support our people to quit the deadly habit of smoking. 
I wanted to look in some detail at the tobacco products indexation because I think it demonstrates that subordinate legislation can be of fundamental importance in supporting vital Government activities that must be mandated by legislation such as this. 
Another key aspect of the legislation is the changes to the Social Security (Rates of Benefits and Allowances) Order 2009. The effect of this part of the bill is to make CPI inflationary increases to benefit payments. As the House will be aware all benefits are indexed for movements in the CPI. This increase is done through the annual general adjustment which increases benefits pensions allowances and some other assistance thresholds. Some of the increases such as those to New Zealand superannuation are due to legislation whereas others such as those to core benefits are done by convention. As I understand it the CPI increases to benefits were not locked in by the previous Government. We are pleased that the changes are included in this bill which will ultimately mean an increase in benefits. 
Although of course we support this increase to benefit payments the key issue for the Maori Party is to really understand whether the current level of benefits is sufficient to support whanau well-being. The Maori Party has consistently advocated for benefits to be set at a level that enables families to meet their basic needs including their housing and food costs. We have been concerned at the way in which low benefit levels are contributing to child poverty and the conditions that thwart healthy child development. We know that benefit levels are too low and are a major contributor to the disturbing levels of poverty. Although we support the changes to the rates of benefits and allowances we want to place on record again our resounding call as articulated in our confidence and supply agreement that we will see what we can do to achieve significant outcomes in whanau ora through eliminating poverty and advocating for social justice. Lest this be unclear I say we expect to see these advances made not just in our lifetime but in the term of this Parliament. There is no time to wait for all people to enjoy the state of well-being that they are entitled to. In respect of this fundamental goal we support this bill at its first reading. Kia ora.