The pair were brought together through the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products Amendment Bill (no 2) - Ms Leary is on the health select committee and is handling the issue; the Bill is in Ms Costello’s name as associate health minister.
It is not a terribly complex Bill and nor is it especially controversial - it includes a ban on disposable vapes and introduces tighter restrictions on the visibility of vaping stores, to not allow them to be an attractive honeypot to young people, and that we make sure we have some concealment around how these products are displayed.
Labour, broadly, supports the Bill, but that was not going to stop it speaking exhaustively on it during the committee stages, as the Opposition is trying to slow government business down by any means possible.
Ms Leary kicked off part one of the committee stages debate with words guaranteed to make the heart of any minister sink: ‘‘We do have quite a few questions.’’
Specifically, Ms Leary wanted to know about Ms Costello’s decision-making processes (which have proven to be a happy hunting ground for Labour so far) and why she had not opted to take a more ambitious approach to tackling teenage vaping.
Ms Costello’s reply, that the government wanted to get something started to address a growing problem and then return to the issue, unsurprisingly, did not assuage her.
‘‘The overwhelming sentiment from people who have submitted to the health committee outside of the submission process, simply on vaping in general, and then again in the submissions, was that we need to do this properly. We’re talking about substances here that are consumed into the human body ... this is not something we take lightly.’’
To which Ms Costello replied that she certainly was not taking the issue lightly: ‘‘This has been a subject of significant debate over a period of time, so there was a lot of knowledge that already existed in this space ... I appreciate there was concern, but there was a high level of interest by those who were dealing with kids that were accessing vaping, so there’s a suite of responses in this space and around the types of devices.’’
And so on and so on, including Ms Leary taking up several minutes with alternative titles for the Bill, including the ‘‘Smokefree Environments (Not Changing any of the Flavours) and Regulated Products Amendment Bill’’, to predictable uproar.
The House then turned to the much more controversial Crown Minerals Bill and Ms Costello might have thought that was that for she and Ms Leary for the week.
However, the band got back together on Thursday for Question 11, in which Ms Leary - her party’s seniors spokeswoman - quizzed the Minister for Seniors (Ms Costello) over the ongoing, and far from fast-tracked, review of the Retirement Villages Act.
‘‘I have engaged strongly with the Retirement Villages Association and the Retirement Villages Residents Association to ensure we achieve positive outcomes,’’ Ms Costello said.
‘‘There is a tough issue to deal with, and we have found common ground. So there is work to be done in this space. I’m confident we’ll achieve a positive resolution.’’
To which an unimpressed Ms Leary asked: ‘‘How does she think the timeline for actual change for residents of 2029 at the earliest improves the lives of seniors?
‘‘There is common ground with both parties, and we are working to achieve those positive outcomes without the need for the legislative process,’ Ms Costello responded, unsatisfactorily so far as Ms Leary was concerned.
‘‘Why has she allowed the retirement villages review to be kicked into the next parliamentary term when many of those who need it will not live long enough to benefit from the protections?’’ she caustically, but not entirely unreasonably, asked.
‘‘I’m continuing to meet with those groups and addressing those practical issues to get the job done,’’ Ms Costello reassured her.
But wait, there’s more. Thursday had enough time left for the third reading of the Smokefree Bill to start: an ‘‘important opportunity here to do something really good and positive,’’ (Ms Costello) or ‘‘an absolutely wasted opportunity’’ if you were Ms Leary.
That debate resumes on the next sitting day, but after being together for so long, Ms Leary and Ms Costello were probably both pleased to get a little me-time the following week.
Vale Nikki Kaye
Sad news this week that former National deputy leader Nikki Kaye has died, aged just 44.
The former Auckland Central MP had strong Otago connections. She had a science degree in genetics from the University of Otago and also started a law degree during her time in the South.
The former vice-president of the Knox College Students’ Club gave a well-received speech to a new generation of Knox residents some years ago.
