Source: New Zealand Parliament – Hansard
Dr CARLOS CHEUNG (National—Mt Roskill): The people of New Zealand have spoken. Vaping is a serious issue and it is time for the Government to take action. I rise up this morning to support this Government’s work to get tough on vaping and particularly on youth vaping. This bill is a first step towards limiting youth vaping and addressing vaping issues.
Just now we had our previous contributor from the Labour Party, Ingrid Leary, mention how she is passionate about addressing vaping issues. But I want to emphasise that I haven’t seen any action in the past six years to address the issues, and now they say that we don’t care. But we are the Government who actually put this bill on the Table. So I don’t know what she was trying to say or what she was meaning, when saying that we are not taking action.
So let’s go back to the bill. The centrepiece of this bill is the complete ban on disposable vape devices. Also, it is important to recognise that this bill has a significant increase in fines for retailers caught cash-selling vapes to under-18s—from $10,000 to $100,000. It also introduces additional restrictions on the visibility of vaping products, and one of the best ones is banning new vape shops from operating near schools and early childhood centres.
During the submissions stage we received and considered submissions from 849 groups and individuals. We had the privilege of hearing 41 submitters both in person and by video conference. Because of them, we were able to strengthen this bill to serve its purpose. But I also want to mention some of the great ideas which are out of scope, including licensing all retailers, maybe a possibility of introducing density limits for specialist vape retailers, reducing the nicotine labels, and introducing plain packaging. Also, we heard feedback from local constituents and also from a lot of health foundations, especially the Asthma and Respiratory Foundation. They all agree that this bill is a positive step forward in fighting against youth vaping.
I believe that this bill is the first step towards limiting youth vaping and addressing vape issues. Also, we believe it is true that there is more work to do, and I’m looking forward to this House making more progress in due course. I commend this bill to the House.