Hypocrisy in nation’s leadership on tobacco control
Hone Harawira, MANA Leader and MP for Te Tai Tokerau
Tuesday 13 May 2014
Mana Party Leader and MP Hone Harawira is looking forward to meeting with Australian Tobacco Control experts Jonathan
Liberman and Kylie Lindorff tomorrow before they give their oral submission on the Smokefree Environments (Tobacco Plain
packaging) Amendment Act to Parliament’s health select committee. They are here to put Australia’s evidence before the
committee and advocate for New Zealand to adopt similar plain packaging legislation without delay.
“I want to personally thank them for taking the time to come and support the measure in New Zealand. When the best minds
in Australia think the policy is legally robust and working over there, that should give our government the confidence
they need to go ahead with it here,” said Mr Harawira.
Harawira said he was impatient with the time it was taking New Zealand to match its packaging laws with Australia,
despite its trade partnership obligations.
“There’s hypocrisy in our nation’s leadership when on one day it commits to eradicating tobacco use in Aotearoa before
2025, but then on another says it can wait until arbitrations against Australia are over at the WTO. That’s like saying
we’ll do something when pigs fly.”
“And there’s yet more hypocrisy when the government breaches its obligations under the WTO’s Framework Convention on
Tobacco Control by letting the tobacco industry’s scaremongering tactics affect their decision-making on plain
packaging.
“It’s a bad look, particularly as you see former tobacco lobbyists line up to represent the National Party in the next
elections.”
“I hope the health select committee can rise above these failings and listen carefully to the evidence they hear from
these visitors tomorrow.”
“We’ve stalled on plain packaging long enough. Māori kids remain at higher risk of exposure to this form of marketing
than other kids. The longer tobacco packs stay as they are, the longer this murdering industry gets to market their
deadly product. It’s time for the government to stand up to the tobacco industry and eradicate one of its last forms of
advertising”.
ENDS