Yesterday was a particularly messy day for the Government.
It chose to smash through under urgency the Pae Ora (Disestablishment of Māori Health Authority) Amendment Bill. Urgency was deemed necessary because the Waitangi Tribunal had decided to hold an urgent hearing into the proposal and its effect on Treaty relations and the Government wanted to gazump this.
It is difficult to imagine until yesterday but clearly National’s relationship with Māori has deteriorated even further after this stunt. The intent of Pae Ora was to improve Māori health statistics which are currently appalling. A seven year gap between life expectancy for Māori and for Pakeha should be all the proof that is required. Reversing the reform, using urgency, failing to consult with Māori or offer the legislation up for select committee review or having any alternative to offer is appalling.
Then to really show what it thinks about Māori health it made under urgency changes to the Smokefree Legislation. This caused this response from Chris Hipkins. I am not a fan but his speech was really, really good.
He then completely snookered Christopher Luxon at question time about how laws against semi automatic weapons were almost inevitably going to be loosened.
Luxon’s response was weak and clearly there will be a backtrack from his former assertion that bring back semi automatic firearms is not going to happen. His comment “[n]o papers have been received or decisions made in our Cabinet” means that the papers are in preparation and there have been discussions. Claiming that the changes will ensure “greater protection for public safety” is ridiculous, as ridiculous as claiming that we have to possess nuclear weapons to deter the use of nuclear weapons.
The Smokefree bill has some really interesting features, like removal of requirements to consult with Māori.
The purposes of the Act have been rewritten. There is no longer the need to to reduce disparities in smoking rates and smoking-related illnesses between New Zealand population groups and, in particular, between Māori and other groups. The words “prevent the harmful effect of other people’s smoking on the health of others, and especially on young people and children” have been removed as have the words “significantly reduce the retail availability of smoked tobacco products”. Big Tobacco’s bottom line will be preserved because the intent is to “support smokers to switch to regulated products that are significantly less harmful than smoking”. The goal no longer is to prevent young people, and successive generations, from ever taking up smoking. And advertising will be regulated and controlled, not restricted.
And call me a conspiracist and give me a tinfoil hat but this bill has Big Tobacco’s fingerprints all over it. As said by Hipkins (refer to video above):
This is a bill that will kill people; it is a bill that will increase smoking in New Zealand. The hollow words that we just got from the Minister sponsoring the bill are nothing more than regurgitated talking points from the tobacco lobby. We have heard it all before from the tobacco lobby, and the Minister promoting this bill simply stood up and read it out on their behalf.
But it goes worse than that, because we know that the instructions she gave to the officials that prepared this bill probably came from the tobacco lobby as well. This is a Government that is firmly in the pocket of the tobacco industry, and the Minister presenting this bill is simply doing their bidding, bringing a bill before the House that will do harm to New Zealand.
National’s blitzkreig use of urgency to smash through changes is eating up huge amounts of good will and hardening opposition to the Government. And creating a strong impression that they are doing the bidding of their sponsors not acting in the country’s best interests.
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