25 September 2024
The Hon. R.A. SIMMS (21:22): I rise to indicate that the Greens will be supporting the bill. The Hon. Mr Pangallo and I have disagreed on a few issues over the last few days but we do agree on this issue. I certainly support his efforts to tackle cigarette use, particularly among young people. I think this is a bold step in terms of taking a phased approach to stopping the sale of tobacco products to young people, initially, but of course what this bill does is phase out cigarette use among a whole new generation coming through. I think that is a worthy public policy initiative.
The bill prohibits the sale of tobacco products to anyone born after 1 January 2009, or people who are currently 15 years or younger. I do note that there is an amendment filed by the Hon. Frank Pangallo that changes that date to the year 2007, which would impact anyone who is 17 years or younger. I am happy to entertain that amendment should it be required to secure the passage of the bill through this place.
The Greens have always supported a health approach to substance use. We believe that harm minimisation is the most appropriate way to reduce the adverse health, social and economic consequences of alcohol and other drug use. We want a reduction in high-risk uses of nicotine and tobacco, as we acknowledge that they are substances that cause serious harm.
It is important for us to note that there are supports put in place to help young people under the age of 15 move away from nicotine; however, we note that this is a private member's bill, and those services would need to be provided by the government. I look forward to hearing from the government down the track around what they might do in that regard should this bill become law.
This is an argument that the Greens have made at a federal level. During the time when vaping reforms were passed by the federal parliament in June, the Greens argued that the increase in nicotine dependence is a significant public health problem. We want to keep tobacco and nicotine products out of the hands of kids, but we also want to ensure that people can access support to address their addiction when they need it.
We are pleased that this bill does not take a punitive approach to the possession of tobacco products but instead prohibits the sale of such products to young people. New Zealand was the first jurisdiction to ban smoking for future generations. It was accompanied by other measures to make smoking less affordable and accessible and included dramatically reducing the legal amount of nicotine in tobacco products. At the same time, they increased funding for health services and rolled out additional quitting services.
This was a comprehensive package of reforms and supports that was due to see health benefits at a significant level for people in New Zealand. Unfortunately, the new right-wing government in New Zealand has scrapped these reforms before they were due to be implemented in July this year. I think that is very disappointing. I also notice that the Tory government announced a plan to move down this path but never achieved that. I do hope, though, that governments in other jurisdictions take action on this.
The Greens will therefore be supporting the bill by the Hon. Frank Pangallo as we consider it to be consistent with promoting better health outcomes for people born after the year 2009, but I do want to use this opportunity to call on the government to provide additional services to support people using tobacco products.
In considering this bill, I would urge elected members to consider whether, if we had our time again, we would choose to make tobacco a product available to young people and adults here in our state. The reality is there are significant health risks that flow from tobacco use. We know that it has been linked with cancer. We also know that cigarette butts are terrible for our environment, and I will talk a little bit about that later. Really, if we had our time again, would we go down this path? What this bill does is take a staged approach to phasing out cigarettes and tobacco products in our state, and I commend it.