Verrall AyeshaHon Dr AYESHA VERRALL (Labour): In the last day in this House we have heard some outrageous statements made about the last 2022 amendment to the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products Act. We were told that that bill was virtue-signalling and that it will have no effect. So I want to say why it is that that bill matters. This is why. It matters because tobacco is the most harmful product in New Zealand. It kills 50 percent of the people who use it. It is the leading preventable cause of death in New Zealand.I want to tell the people on that side of the House about what smoking does to the people in our community in case they don't know. In my years as a junior doctor I admitted to hospital thousands of people suffering from the harms of smoking—people who had emphysema so bad that they became prisoners in their own home and the slightest cold set them off and brought them to hospital gasping for air and they would tell me that even when they were well they couldn't walk to their mailbox. I have diagnosed dozens of people with cancer. I have seen many people have amputations due to tobacco.The 2022 amendment to the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products Act was evidence-based. The denicotinisation of cigarettes has been studied in multiple clinical trials. Retail outlets are known to be associated with undermining people's efforts to quit. They are known to be concentrated in our poorest communities and those communities with more Māori and Pacific people living in them. Do you know the reason why this Government is cancelling our Act? It's because it actually would have got there. It would have got us to our Smokefree 2025 goal which previously was a bipartisan-held goal and without that legislation it's predicted that this Government will take until 2061 to achieve that.We know that that legislation is incredibly popular and 60 percent of New Zealand don't think this repeal should go ahead. That's why that side of the House was silent on this issue at the last election and in the coalition agreement the voters learnt that a dirty deal was done behind closed doors and we found out that these proposals that are a wish list from the tobacco industry were making their way into our households. Thousands of people over 40000 New Zealanders signed a petition against this bill. Over 9000 doctors were parts of organisations that demanded a select committee process. Hundreds of health organisations have condemned the Minister of Health and the Associate Minister of Health for bringing in this bill.The cartoonists have had their turn too calling out Dr Cigareti" and "Nicotine Willis" and making the Government a laughing stock. And speaking of a laughing stock we have the mystery of the document that miraculously appeared in the Minister's office but she can't say how it got there and she can't really give satisfactory answers to the House about whether or not she spoke the truth to a journalist on this matter. This—SPEAKER: Anything that might be considered to be an accusation of inappropriate speaking to the House—I've let go the term "dirty deal". I think you've just got to be a little calmer about the way you put your argument.Hon Dr AYESHA VERRALL: This week I had the privilege of travelling up and down the country to meet with New Zealanders who care deeply about this bill. One of the highlights of my visit was to go to Manukura School in Palmerston North. I met with about a hundred year 12 and year 13 students who should be entitled to a smokefree future. They deserve long years with their grandparents. They deserve a future free of the influence of tobacco. I want to tell the members on that side of the House that their ramming this bill through under urgency will not achieve what they think it will. Citizens have options in this country too and the options that many in the Health Coalition Aotearoa are considering pursuing is a citizens initiated referendum to make sure that this issue that stinks doesn't go away. The smell of this issue will hang around this Government for months and years to come.Our people deserve a smokefree future. I'm proud that in the Labour Party I played my part in fighting for that and we continue to oppose this bill."