Smokefree workplaces report is comical
The Asthma and Respiratory Foundation of New Zealand Smokefree Workplaces December 2005 report released today delivers some quite remarkable findings relating to the impact the smoking ban in bars has had upon the hotel industry.
“Reading this report takes me back many years, to the days when I read comics”, says WIN Party leader John van Buren.
“Comics made for very entertaining reading but at the end of the day you know that what you are reading is pure fantasy, created by people with furtively imaginative minds”.
“This report paints a totally different picture to what is actually happening within the hotel industry, and the disclaimer, ‘ All reasonable measures have been taken to ensure that the information presented in this report is accurate. However, the Asthma and Respiratory Foundation of New Zealand does not accept responsibility
or liability for any error, flaw or omission in this report’, is about the only thing in the report’s contents I find credible”.
“The report claims contrary to concerns expressed by opponents to the legislation, smokefree hospitality venues have not resulted in an overall loss of profits in bars, clubs, cafes or restaurants”.
“This does not correlate with feedback the WIN Party has from the hotel industry, especially from hotels in rural and outer suburban areas”.
“WIN is in the midst of conducting a survey of hotels, taverns and bars, for the period 10 December 2004 to 9 December 2005, the results of which we will release before Christmas, in their entirety”.
“We will release those results without juggling of figures to achieve the result we want, and without a disclaimer relating to accuracy, as the information we will release into the public domain will be accurate”.
“This report also delivers some rather strange results relating to tobacco consumption rates, based upon an AC Neilson survey of supermarket retail sales only, and does not provide figures from all other retail points of sale, including service stations and dairies”.
“Given the government revenue grab from tobacco has risen 5.6% compared to last year, and cigarettes available for sale between January and September this year rose 7.5% from the same period last year, sales must have increased”.
“Couple these figures with the indeterminable volume of black market cigarettes and roll your own tobacco being sold in New Zealand, and without any doubt whatsoever, tobacco consumption is on the rise”.
Release Authorised by Dave Clarke – WIN Party Press Secretary
CONTACT: John van Buren 03 329 3122, 027 435 4955
Dave Clarke – Press Secretary
Mobile: +64 21 179 1410
winparty@slingshot.co.nz
http://www.winparty.org.nz/
WIN Party Media Release
08.12.2005
for immediate release
WIN Party Media Release
17.12.2005
for immediate release
Keeping the bastards honest
Following Timaru publican and WIN Party co-founder Geoff Mulvihills conviction and fining for ‘alleged’ breaches of the smoking ban in bars, a question has arisen relating to the WIN Party’s viability and continued existence.
“The question of whether the battle WIN is fighting to overturn the existing smokefree legislation is a lost cause is answerable with a very emphatic no”, says WIN Party leader John van Buren.
“Authorities and the anti smoking lobby continue to talk up the supposed success of the ban and downplay the damage the ban has inflicted upon the hotel industry despite there being clear and irrefutable evidence to the contrary”.
“The smoking ban is placing small business and people’s livelihoods in jeopardy, yet government, authorities and health and anti smoking groups continue to champion the ban and tell us everything is OK”.
“WIN must take on role of, to quote former Australian Democrat Senator Cheryl Kernot, keeping the bastards honest”.
“Much of the information released into the public domain by government, authorities and health and anti smoking groups is statistically based and is either misleading or a deliberate bending of the truth”.
“A classic example of what we are fighting is Associate Health Minister Damien O’Conner’s claim that statistically, one hundred lives have been saved from the new law”.
“I would like to meet one of the fortunate whose life the ban has saved, and also study closely the methodology and scientific evidence upon which Mr O’Conner bases this particular claim”.
“We have a duty to the sectors of the hotel industry being crushed by the smoking ban, and to the public, to present the real story, and the facts”.
Contact John van Buren 027 435 4955
Release Authorised by Dave Clarke – WIN Party Press Secretary
Freedom of Choice
?Dave Clarke – Press Secretary
Mobile: +64 21 179 1410
winparty@slingshot.co.nz
www.winparty.org.nz
