Councillors vent frustration at legislation timeframe

Nicole Mathewson Reporter from Northern Outlook

By David Hill, Local Democracy Reporter

Waimakariri’s councillors have vented their frustration at the speed of implementing new smoking and vaping legislation.

Councillors agreed to make a submission on proposals for the new smoked tobacco regulatory regime at Tuesday’s (March 7) council meeting.

But expressed frustration at the timeframe for submissions, which prevented the council from consulting with the community.

Councils have until March 15 to submit on proposals for implementing the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products (Smoked Tobacco) Amendment Act, which came into force in January.

The legislation is set to make sweeping changes, including reducing the number of retail stores selling tobacco from 6000 to 600 nationwide.
This would mean reducing from 30 to seven tobacco retailers in Waimakariri’s urban areas, with a handful of other retailers in ‘‘rural areas’’.

But the legislation did not restrict the number of outlets selling vape products.

Several councillors expressed concern about how this would impact on small businesses, already struggling in the present economic climate.

Deputy mayor Neville Atkinson expressed his dismay at a policy ‘‘picking six winners and losers’’.

He suggested the retailers able to sell cigarettes would reap the benefits, while others would struggle.

But he noted the long term impact of banning smoking in pubs had been positive.

‘‘When they stopped smoking in hotels they said they were all going to close, but how many hotels have we got now?’’

Councillor Tim Fulton said councillors ‘‘owe it to our kids’’ to make a submission.

He suggested a ‘‘sinking lid policy’’ on tobacco retailers, similar to reducing gaming machines, would be fairer than a mandatory reduction in retailers.

Councillor Philip Redmond said it was ‘‘a waste of time’’ reducing the number of tobacco retailers.

‘‘You either have it or you don’t.

‘‘It is like drink driving, it has taken a long time for people to finally get the message.’’

Councillor Niki Mealings said smokefree legislation had been in the pipeline for decades.

‘‘If your business is dependent on selling cigarettes to survive, then you need to relook at your business model because you’ve had 23 years to prepare for this.’’

But she was concerned about the lack of regulation around vaping and particularly the targeting of young people who had no history of smoking tobacco.

‘‘Social service agencies are asking what are councils doing about vape shops and the answer is nothing because we don’t have the tools, so we need to do something about it.’’

She noted the legislation did have clauses to make vape products less attractive.

Redmond said vaping was the ‘‘elephant in the room’’, as it needed to be restricted and regulated.

‘‘The government needs to protect our youth because it has already become trendy.’’

Atkinson said while the government had made it illegal to sell vape to under-18s, ‘‘who is enforcing it?’’

■ Public interest journalism funded through New Zealand on Air.