11. LESLEY SOPER (Labour) Link to this
to the Associate Minister of Health
What recent reports have there been on smoking in New Zealand?
Hon DAMIEN O’CONNOR (Associate Minister of Health) Link to this
This excellent Labour-led Government recently announced that New Zealand’s smoking rate has fallen to a record low of 19.9 percent—the first time on record that it has ever been below 20 percent. The latest New Zealand Health Survey shows that smoking has fallen by almost 5 percent across the population since 2003. This means there are 150,000 fewer smokers, half of whom would have died as a result of smoking. Fewer youth are smoking now, too. The latest Action on Smoking and Health year 10 survey shows that under this Labour-led Government youth smoking has more than halved, from 28 percent of youth in 1999 to 12 percent in 2007. The record shows that our Government has had significant success in reducing the smoking rate in this country.
Hon DAMIEN O’CONNOR Link to this
That is another excellent question. In this year’s Budget the Government committed an extra $8 million a year for smoking cessation. This is on top of the extra $10 million per year we announced last year, and takes the total annual spend to $55 million. We are funding many cessation programmes: nicotine replacement therapy; this week we launched Txt2Quit; and last month we launched our new, hard-hitting TV advertisements. Our policies to reduce smoking are working. They are about stopping children and young people from starting, and about helping people to quit. They are not about sitting around in corporate boxes blowing smoke in people’s faces.
Rt Hon Winston Peters Link to this
Given that the latest United Nations health report says that the country with the greatest incidence of longevity, or the lowest incidence of heart failure and strokes, is also the country with the greatest per capita intake of cigarette smoking—namely, Japan—why is the Minister not focusing on that which is important, which is diet, rather than poking his nose into the minds and lives of ordinary working people who have very few pleasures, and are simply trying to survive in this difficult world?
Hon DAMIEN O’CONNOR Link to this
That is an excellent question. This Government is doing a huge amount in the area of healthy eating and healthy action. We have a number of programmes under way. But I do not buy into that member’s assumption that Japanese people live longer because they smoke more.