Labour's planned anti-smoking law changes are dead in the water as the Government repeals the legislation under urgency today.
None of the measures introduced by the previous government being repealed are currently in place, with the changes planned to go into effect later this year, 2025 and 2027.
Most Kiwis did not want the legislation to be removed, according to a 1News Verian Poll from earlier this month. Many health experts are also unhappy with the changes.
But Associate Health Minister Casey Costello said today the previous government had been pushing ahead with an infeasible scheme.
"The last government was moving towards an untested regime that ignored how well quit smoking initiatives were working, and the potential downside of taking a prohibitionist approach for smokers, or for retailers and crime," she said.
"The progress New Zealand has made in reducing smoking means that those who currently smoke are mostly long-term smokers who are addicted to nicotine and that’s who we need to focus on. We want an approach that is practical and helps smokers to quit, rather than one based on ideology.”
Earlier this afternoon, the Government introduced an amendment bill that will repeal three parts of the planned changes.
Costello said: "The coalition government is committed to the Smokefree 2025 goal, but we are taking a different regulatory approach to reducing smoking rates and the harm from smoking.
"New Zealand has seen some of the largest drops in smoking rates across the world in recent years and we want to build on the practical tools and approaches that have worked to date.
The Waitangi Tribunal claim accuses the coalition of supporting a repeal it knows will result in thousands of Māori deaths. (Source: 1News)
"I will soon be taking a package of measures to cabinet to increase the tools available to help people quit smoking, while at the same time tightening regulations on vaping to prevent young people accessing vapes.
"As a first step, however, today’s Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products Amendment Bill will deliver on the Government’s 100-day commitments and repeal three parts of the last government’s smokefree legislation: the retail reduction scheme, de-nicotinisation, and the smokefree generation measures."
'Flies in the face of robust research' - academic
Otago University public health researcher Janet Hoek said the changes would mean more people taking up smoking.
"Repealing the legislation flies in the face of robust research evidence; it ignores measures strongly supported by Māori leaders and it will preserve health inequities," she said.
"Large-scale clinical trials and modelling studies show the legislation would have rapidly increased the rates of quitting among smokers and made it much harder for young people to take up smoking.
"We know from robust modelling that the business-as-usual approach the Government wants to revert to will not see smoking prevalence among Māori fall below 5% for several decades.
"The Government’s plan to introduce new nicotine products will mean young people remain easy prey for tobacco companies.”
NZ 'dodges dopey experiment in prohibition' - ACT
Government coalition partner ACT welcomed the move, attacking "a frenzied opposition and media" in the process. The party's health spokesman Todd Stephenson called Labour's legislation a "dopey experiment in prohibition".
"ACT's coalition agreement committed to repealing Labour’s prohibitionist legislation, and we applaud the Associate Health Minister for shepherding this repeal through Parliament while under fire from a frenzied opposition and media."
He suggested the "attempted crackdown on smokers would have delivered criminal groups a near-monopoly over the cigarette trade."
"It's been disappointing to see the media buy into the nonsense arguments pushed by professional nanny statists. Their hatred of the tobacco industry has led them to a dangerous and illogical place."
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