Media Release
Hone Harawira, Member of Parliament for Te Tai Tokerau
Monday March 5, 2007

'Out of sight, Out of mind'

The Maori Party’s Tobacco Out of Aotearoa spokesman Hone Harawira said today that he was in full support of a total ban on cigarette displays.

“Our aim is to get tobacco right out of Aotearoa,” said Harawira, “because it’s killing so many Maori and heaps of other New Zealanders as well.

“The health of the nation must come before the profits of the tobacco giants, and I applaud the Cancer Society and ASH for their commitment to this cause” said Mr Harawira.

“Anything that brings down our smoking rates has got to be a good idea, and this proposal from the Cancer Society and ASH to ban visible cigarette displays and put them under the counter is a big step in the right direction for Maori,” said Harawira.

"Our people want to stop smoking, but how do they do that when the law allows pushers of these highly addictive drugs to display their wares in every petrol station, every supermarket and every dairy in the country?" asked Harawira. “It’s got to stop.”

"There’s no easy-fix to stopping smoking, but we must be bold enough, brave enough and intelligent enough to attack this problem in any way that we can " finished Mr Harawira.

ENDS

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