The government is steamrollering its vaping legislation despite the State of National Emergency.

I put in my submission on it today, but am disgusted with the Select Committee for not pushing out the date, and with Parliament for not suspending this process.

My submission on the government's vaping legislation is here.
https://nzinitiative.org.nz/reports-and-media/submissions/submission-smokefree-environments-and-regulated-products-vaping-amendment-bill/

I start off with some criticism of the Committee and Parliament for not extending the relevant deadlines to recognise that while this legislation is important, it is not urgent.

I really suspect the government is doing this on purpose.

The government knows that vapers would be mobilising against a lot that's in this legislation, if the lockdown did not prohibit their doing so.

Suppressing affected communities is the point.

We think the government has gotten the balance fundamentally wrong. Treating vaping far too much like smoking will discourage smokers from making the switch.

Did you know the legislation prevents you from vaping in your own home, if you live in a residential care facility?

Restrictions on advertising will prevent a lot of people learning about reduced-harm alternatives.

The restrictions were deemed unjustifiable by the Attorney General.

And they risk overreach. My submission could be considered an illegal advertisement for snus!

I got particularly annoyed by a ban on snus that was packaged as a change to packaging requirements.

I think the Ministry's interpretation of MoH v PMI has been dead wrong re snus (it is nothing like chewing), and that the Ministry are being utter asses here.

Finally, the legislation grants huge discretion for health officials to draft rules by order in council. Parliament needs to be very careful about granting that discretion as there will be absolutely no effective check on things as they're now written.

Vaping legislation and legislative process are incredibly infuriating. The legislation is bad. It will prevent a lot of harm reduction. The process locks out the locked-down. Nothing in here is urgent, but they ram it through in a National Emergency. Absolutely disgusting.

My column in today's @nzheraldbiz is on the nonsense of rushing a vaping select committee process during a state of national emergency that precludes effective democratic participation.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12310822

I'll also be talking about it on @Breakfaston1 around 6am.

This morning's @Breakfaston1 programme: me on the government's pushing through vaping legislation despite the pandemic and despite the Alert 4 lockdown locking out many potential submissions on the legislation.

https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/pushing-through-vaping-legislation-during-lockdown-undemocratic-critic-says

Our submission: https://nzinitiative.org.nz/reports-and-media/media/media-release-new-zealand-initiative-criticises-government-for-rushing-new-vaping-legislation-during-lockdown/

Looks like the Law Society agrees with me on a few points.

There was no urgent need to restrict submissions. And the restrictions on freedom of speech are substantial.

*Why* is the government pushing vaping legislation in the middle of a pandemic?

https://www.lawsociety.org.nz/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/145069/Smokefree-Environments-and-Regulated-Products-Vaping-Amendment-Bill-1-4-20.pdf

And it looks like End Smoking NZ reached similar conclusions to mine. The government's approach is disproportionate to risk, too inflexible when it comes to Snus, imposes too many restrictions on freedom of speech.

https://www.endsmoking.nz/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Submission_ESNZ_20200401.pdf