Petition makes its way to parliament

Maori Party co-leader Marama Fox (left) and Cathy Cherrington, manager of Te Hiku Hauora’s health promotion team, at yesterday’s presentation of a petition calling for a ban on smoking in cars with young passengers.

Maori Party co-leader Marama Fox is an ex-smoker who can still recall travelling in her father's car as a 3-year-old and feeling ill while he smoked.

Yesterday she was delighted to accept a petition signed by more than 2000 Northlanders calling on the Government to ban smoking in vehicles where there are children under 18.

New rules in Britain from today ban smoking in vehicles with children on board. The petition calls for a similar ban here and will be presented to Parliament by Ms Fox.

She said she will accept support for her battle to eliminate smoking in New Zealand by 2025 from wherever it comes, and was delighted to accept the petition in Kaitaia yesterday.

A one-time smoker but a campaigner against tobacco for the past 20 years, she said she had clear memories of feeling ill travelling in a car while her father smoked.

Her arrival in Parliament last year had given her a stronger platform from which to fight tobacco, but she was frustrated by how slowly things were done. The enforcement of plain packaging was on hold, thanks to a court case taken against the Australian Government by Philip Morris, but the petition would perhaps "push the Government along".

Progress was being made; there was a continuing downward trend in smoking rates, except among Maori women. Women she had spoken to had said they knew smoking was wrong, and bad for them, but it was one way they could relieve their stress.

"What are we not doing to relieve their stress in some other way?" Ms Fox said.

Cancer Society Northland health promoter Jim Callaghan said all parents wanted the best for their children, and the petition would serve as the voice of parents in the region.

The petition, which included many signatures from Te Hiku, called on the Government to offer a level of protection to their children. "We know smoking kills 5000 people a year - that's almost the population of Kaitaia - and this is a simple way for the Government to show that it is serious about protecting children," Mr Callaghan said.

He was hopeful that the petition would prove to be the starting point for significant change.