Anti-Smoking Bill An Affront To Basic Rights

ACT MPs Hon Heather Roy, Sir Roger Douglas and Hilary Calvert are taking the rare step of issuing this joint press release explaining why they voted against the Smoke-free Environments (Controls and Enforcement) Amendment Bill on Thursday. They do so because they believe the constitutional implications of the Bill are greater than its content would suggest. They note that the Bill violates the basic right to freedom of expression.

“Section 14 of the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act protects the right to freedom of expression. This Bill violates that right. The right to display legal products in a store is basic,” Hon Heather Roy said.

“The fact that the Bill of Rights has been ignored by Parliament is a disgrace. That the transgression was ‘minor’ is irrelevant. Either we uphold the basic rights of all New Zealanders or we descend toward a society where rights have little meaning. It’s no surprise that among recent international attempts to ban or restrict smoking is that spearheaded by North Korea’s Kim Jong-Il. We are hardly keeping good company,” Ms Calvert said.

“The law is yet another tedious example of nanny-statism and political correctness. Parliament is interfering in the lawful activities of ordinary New Zealanders to advance the agenda of anti-smoking activists. That is a travesty of what Parliament is supposed to be about. I fear the activists won’t stop till they’ve achieved complete prohibition,” Sir Roger added.

“Smokers have rights too. We support their rights. We don’t like smoking, but we don’t believe it is for us as MPs to say whether people should smoke or not, much less whether they may display a legal product or not. That our Parliament deems it fit to interfere in people’s personal lives, as it did on Thursday, saddens us,” the MPs concluded.

ENDS

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