Katene Rahui: Smoke-free Environments (Controls and Enforcement) Amendment Bill — Third Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Katene Rahui: Smoke-free Environments (Controls and Enforcement) Amendment Bill — Third Reading 
[Sitting date: 14 July 2011. Volume:674;Page:20132. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
RAHUI KATENE (Maori Party—Te Tai Tonga) 
: 
 In one of the submissions presented to the Health Committee there was a statement attributed to Moana Jackson that had come from the  
National Maori Tobacco Control Strategy: 2003-2007 
. That statement reads: “No greater taonga than the wellness of the people of the land and those expected to care for them had no greater obligation than to ensure its maintenance.” Directly above this statement were pictures of 10 of our tupuna—their beautiful strong faces adorning cards to be used in the sale of tobacco. There is no greater taonga than the wellness of the people yet over the centuries their health and life cycle have been placed at such risk through normalising the practice of tobacco use and addiction. 
Those tobacco cards of tupuna dated back over 90 years to the 1920s and 1930s. Today’s modern-day tobacco displays simply perpetuate the proliferation of paraphernalia used to peddle tobacco products. The Maori Party has raised our concerns about tobacco use as a key party policy since the earliest days of our establishment in 2004. One of our key policy planks in our manifesto  
He Aha Te Mea Nui? He Tangata He Tangata He Tangata 
 was to introduce measures to take tobacco out of Aotearoa. The rationale was sound. 
Despite the legislative and regulatory environment the number of cigarettes and the volume of tobacco available for consumption are increasing. So in our Maori Party policy document we resolved that the health of the nation must come before the profits of the tobacco giants. Our campaign rested on many fronts. We were to draft legislation to bring about tobacco excise increases. We were to call for an inquiry into the tobacco industry in Aotearoa and the consequences of tobacco use upon Maori. We were to remove tobacco displays from public view. So it is an amazing feeling today to reflect on the successes we have had in every aspect of the campaign for tobacco control. 
If there was ever a day to question the value of a coalition agreement with the Government this would be that day. This Government has ventured far beyond what one might have even thought possible in this term of Government in response to the advocacy the expertise and the leadership of our co-leader Tariana Turia. 
Last April the Government enacted legislation to increase the tax on all tobacco products by 10 percent and to equalise the duties on manufactured and roll-your-own cigarettes. Earlier this year it responded with a comprehensive and forward-looking response to the Maori Affairs Committee inquiry into the tobacco industry. This bill today introduces a prohibition on retail displays of tobacco products as another key measure to reduce the prevalence of smoking in Aotearoa. From a “watch this space” preview in Minister Turia’s speech we know that action will soon be taken to introduce plain packaging of tobacco products in line with Australia’s policy. 
On the same day we are making tobacco history with this bill my colleague Pita Sharples was presiding at the opening of the Whare Oranga Ake another major achievement for the Maori Party. The idea is that when the time comes for prisoners to return to their families marae and communities their whakapapa links and family bonds need to be carefully restored. If we just throw prisoners out of jail many of them get into trouble again and go back to prison which is a waste of people. But with Whare Oranga Ake there is a different wairua and tikanga which we believe is possible only as a result of the difference achieved by the Maori Party working in a relationship with the Government. 
I cannot emphasise enough how important these gains are. The legislative moves relating to smoking in Aotearoa are being watched. I go back to Moana Jackson’s words; we are talking about “No greater taonga than the wellness of the people of the land”. 
Of course it is not all roses and I was disappointed that National was unable to appreciate the value of the amendments I sought which were to enable a register to be established and for registration to be mandatory and a condition of selling tobacco. This was a simple pragmatic response to the issue that there is currently not a central list of tobacco retailers—and I appreciate the support of Labour the Greens and Progressive in this regard. Such a register would have been an effective way of keeping track of the growing pressure placed on the public by cunning tobacco companies seeking to market tobacco products through any means. But putting aside the matter of register I can only note just how important this bill is in making progress towards a greater vision of ensuring that Aotearoa is smoke-free by 2025. 
One of the important pieces of information that has enabled this legislation to proceed so smoothly is the research from the Cancer Society of New Zealand which revealed that a large majority of New Zealanders consistently back the removal of tobacco retail displays. But to my mind when I read the submission from Te Oho Ratu o Aotearoa the Maori Medical Practitioners Association there is absolutely no room for doubt. This is what its members said: “Future generations of New Zealand our tamariki and our mokopuna should be free from exposure to tobacco products. … As doctors we deal every day with the tragic human consequences of smoking-related illness. We target our strongest objection opposition and opprobrium at those who profit from the production supply and sale of this addictive poison tobacco.” 
This is a very big move. Today this House will pass into law a bill that will remove tobacco retail displays restrict tobacco trading names and introduce tighter controls on sales to minors. We know that relapse into smoking is influenced by the retail displays of tobacco products. The mere sight of tobacco on display becomes a temptation for smokers trying to quit. During the select committee hearings we were also told by the Centre for Tobacco Control Research that experimental smoking among youth is influenced by the retail display of tobacco products. Basically the availability of tobacco and the easy access to it encourages the initiation and the maintenance of smoking. 
It can be so simple: we have to denormalise smoking. We have to instil pride in ourselves that we can be smoke-free because we know we experience and we grieve the reality that smoking kills. To bring us back to the fundamental reason for tobacco reform we need only to return to our urupa and our cemeteries and remember those loved ones who have been taken from us too soon. Smoking is the most significant cause of premature and preventable deaths in New Zealand. As Professor Tony Blakely has said so clearly: “eradicating smoking is the single most important and attainable policy action to reduce inequalities in mortality for Maori and Pacific peoples.” 
The Maori Party is proud today of our champion Tariana Turia and of all the smoke-free advocates—too many to name—who have taken up this cause so valiantly on behalf of whanau. We are delighted to support the third reading of the Smoke-free Environments (Controls and Enforcement) Amendment Bill.