Editorial: Smoking firms about to choke

Photo / Martin Sykes

A government's typical response to calls for a get-tough on tobacco consumption is simple: Whack taxes up and punish the user.

It happened earlier this year when Parliament went into urgency in April, following a push by associate health minister Tariana Turia to bring in legislation raising excise tax on tobacco.

The sting was a 10 per cent price rise for a packet of cigarettes. A 20-pack of smokes now retails for around $13, an eye-watering figure for regulars.

Of course, there have been other moves to curb smoking - the ban in pubs and clubs the most well known of those in recent years.

However, as a concerted effort, previous moves pale compared to the recommendations made by a select committee this week.

After a year of work, the Maori affairs committee tabled a report containing an anti-smoking package that strikes more at the suppliers, rather than the users, of tobacco. Among the proposals were:

*Prohibiting any visible display of tobacco products for sale.

*Enabling smokefree enforcement officers to issue instant infringement fines to those selling tobacco products to people under the age of 18.

*Reducing the amount of tobacco imported.

*Selling tobacco products in plain packaging.

*Extending smokefree areas to vehicles.

*Banning cigarette vending machines.

*Reducing duty free limits.

Not all of these measures will be approved - with National so much in favour of free trade, a restriction on imports simply doesn't make sense, for example.

But Ms Turia and her committee colleagues must be applauded for the strength of their recommendations and for forcing discussion.

That debate is needed when you look at the smoking statistics. The Ministry of Social Development's 2010 Social Development Report says that last year 22 per cent of people aged 15-64 were cigarette smokers.

That is down from the 30 per cent who it was estimated took regular puffs in 1986 - though those figures include over-64s as well.

So the numbers have dropped, but with the majority of that fall between 1987-91, the figures are less cheering. It should, however, be noted that the smaller group of smokers is inhaling less - the statistics indicate a 43 per cent drop-off in the total consumed between 1986-2009.

Clearly, if more people are to be weaned off smoking, harsher measures are needed.

Naturally, the moves face opposition. The most vociferous so far have been retailers, who say the display ban will cost them $50 million. Sure, it will be costly, but if the big tobacco companies want to be in shops, they will have to be arm-twisted into paying for new, out-of-sight stands.

Extending smokefree rules to cars does impinge on personal freedom, but this is more about protecting those who don't get a say about their health in such a confined space - children.

The committee's goals - of halving smoking by 2015 and turning New Zealand into a smokefree nation by 2025 - are laudable. Unless they ban smoking outright though, it won't happen as our people are free to make their own decisions.

Some, however, are addicted and are simply incapable of doing what is best for them. The more pushing we do to stop others joining that dwindling band, the less the rest of us will have to pay to care for them