Whanau help us strive towards healthy future

One of the genuine privileges of being a Member of Parliament is to listen to the stories of the people I meet with. I feel very lucky, to have met such a variety of people over the years, who share with me small pieces of their story, and their lives.

Last week, I was pleased to announce that Cabinet is giving serious consideration to the option of plain packaging of tobacco products. It is an important component of the suite of initiatives that we have set in place to meet our goal of becoming Smokefree Aotearoa by the year 2025.

During the flurry of media interviews, I met this lovely young man who shared with me the story of his journey to become smokefree. Inspired by his brother, a spokesman for the smokefree campaign, this young man and his mother worked hard to quit the habit to support the example that his brother had set for the nation.

It was a wonderful story. It was an example of whanau taking control of their health, and working together to achieve wellbeing. This wonderful young man, who had supported his mother and his brother to achieve their goals; had at the same time contributed to something bigger - he had become a change-maker, a person who had helped our nation move towards our goal of becoming smokefree.

He was an everyday person, setting a remarkable example. It was a reminder of the beauty and the strength of our whanau, and the way that we can work together as whanau to motivate and support each other in achieving our goals. His story was living proof of Whanau Ora.

Supporting healthy whanau to ensure healthy futures is one of the priorities of the Maori Party. Our Social Hazards policy is a key part of supporting our communities to achieve this goal. Over the last month, we have made significant progress towards implementing this policy, and supporting healthy futures for our whanau.

We are very realistic - no one initiative will make the difference - to achieve our vision of Aotearoa being smokefree by 2025 we need to tackle it on many fronts - and we need to share our best ideas and our most creative thinking in doing so.

And so in announcing the proposal for plain packaging of tobacco products, we have also committed to a process of public consultation to take in the views of our communities. Predictably, it has already been met with fierce opposition from tobacco companies.

I believe it is totally inappropriate for overseas companies to exert pressure and to try to determine the laws of this country. And as for the threats from United States business groups - well, quite honestly, I believe that America (or any other nation) should not be trying to interfere with our laws.

Almost 25 years ago, the Government of the day passed the New Zealand Nuclear Free Zone, Disarmament, and Arms Control Act - to prohibit nuclear weapons in New Zealand and visits by nuclear-powered ships. It was the strongest way we could express our view that the nuclear arms race posed a threat to humanity.

Quarter of a century later we should remember that when we stood up to threats around our nuclear policy we earned the respect of the world. It is timely to remember that courage we had then, as we take on this most urgent of campaigns; to prolong the life and wellbeing of our people; to be smokefree, but also to acknowledge that smoking cigarettes poses a threat to our humanity.

This month we also had the first reading of Te Ururoa Flavell's Private Members Bill, the Gambling (Gambling Harm Reduction) Amendment Bill, which aims to give more control to communities over where, and how "pokie" machines are used in their community, and greater say over the use of proceeds of these machines. The Bill is expected to be put to a vote in parliament next month, and we are really excited that our work and our ideas are generating the support they need.

Of course we also have Whanau Ora, which is still moving forward to support whanau at a great pace.

When you are negotiating hard; working from dawn to dusk to see policies implemented, and putting up with all the negativity that feeds the news; some days it is hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel. When I hear the stories from the people we meet, and the tales of success, and of inspiration, they serve as a reminder as to why I do the work that I do, and why the Maori Party is so committed to change. At the end of the day, the work we do is about supporting people, it is about seeking outcomes, and it is about making the road easier for all our whanau to achieve success.

Thank you to those who have shared your stories with me, and for being our inspiration.