New Zealand’s new government plans to repeal a smoking ban law introduced by the previous government to fund tax cuts. The legislation aimed to ban the sale of cigarettes to people born after 2008 by 2024 in a bid to curb smoking, the country’s leading cause of preventable deaths, on Monday, the 27th of November, reports the BBC.
Health experts have strongly criticised the government’s sudden retreat from the law banning smoking, calling it a regressive step, and expressing concerns. Professor Richard Edwards of the University of Otago told the BBC that most New Zealand health groups are shocked and urge the government to reconsider the decision.
New Zealand’s internationally recognised laws passed last year included measures to restrict tobacco retailers and reduce nicotine levels in cigarettes.
Research models showed that the SmokeFree laws would save up to 5 000 lives a year.
As reported by BBC, New Zealand’s Smokefree law influenced the UK government’s decision to announce a similar youth smoking ban in September. A spokeswoman for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said that despite New Zealand’s withdrawal from the law, the UK’s position remains unchanged.
The Smokefree policy, which were welcomed for their public health benefits, faced opposition from business groups and legislators in New Zealand. Some objected to the loss of revenue, even with government subsidies, while others, including Prime Minister Chris Luxon,
expressed concern about a possible black market for tobacco.
The National Party, although it won the election, did not address Smokefree laws during the campaign. The new Finance Minister, Nicola Willis, announced on Saturday that the government plans to repeal the law, due to the insistence of coalition partners who had blocked the National Party’s main policy to fund tax cuts, so the National Party had to look for alternatives to form a government.
The law has yet to be repealed in Parliament, where the government has a majority.
A public health model established in 2022 showed that the Smokefree policy would
save the New Zealand health system around 1.3 billion New Zealand dollars over the next 20 years.
The highest rates of smoking and related diseases and health problems are among New Zealand’s indigenous Maori population, who experts believe would be most positively affected by the policy.
New Zealand’s goal remains to reduce the national smoking rate to 5% by 2025, with the aim of eventually eliminating it altogether, reports the BBC.
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