New Zealand’s government will reverse one of the world’s toughest anti-tobacco laws Tuesday that would have banned the sale of cigarettes and other tobacco products to residents born in 2009 onwards, drawing condemnation from public health experts and anti-tobacco campaigners.
The reversal is part of a governing agenda outlined by Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s National Party government, which won the country’s parliamentary elections last year.
According to Reuters, the government will stop the law going into effect without seeking any public consultation or debate on the matter.
The so-called “Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products Act” was set to go into effect in July and would have banned anyone born after January 1, 2009, from ever buying a cigarette in their lifetime.
The country’s Associate Health Minister Casey Costello told reporters that the conservative coalition government was still committed to a goal of ensuring less than 5% of New Zealand’s population smokes by 2025, but it intends to take a different approach.
The New Zealand Herald, however, reported that Costello rejected pleas from government health officials to retain parts of the smokefree law.
One of the proposals Costello reportedly rejected was raising the tobacco purchase age from 18 to 25.
The tobacco-ban legislation—deemed by many as one of the world’s strictest—was passed by former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s Labor Party-led parliament in December 2022. The ambitious plan sought to cut back on the number of outlets selling tobacco products, lower the level of nicotine in cigarettes and other smoking products and fully ban the sale of tobacco products to anyone born on or after January 1, 2009. The final goal would be achieved by raising the legal age for buying tobacco products every year starting in 2027.
After winning national elections in October last year, Luxon’s ruling coalition said they plan to scrap the law before it takes effect. Luxon and his ministers argued that lifting the ban would bring in critical tax revenue from cigarette sales and prevent the creation of a black market. According to his government’s estimates, repealing the ban would preserve around $610 million (NZ$1 billion) in annual tax revenue. The new government also questioned studies that showed the law would save the country’s healthcare system $860 million (NZ$1.4 billion) by 2040 and drastically reduce the number of deaths.
The decision to repeal the smokefree law has come under severe criticism from public health advocates in the country. The Wellington-based advocacy group, Public Health Communication Center Aotearoa, said: “‘Zombie arguments’ that Aotearoa New Zealand’s smoke-free measures will boost illicit tobacco trade are false…Good governments do not abandon popular and empirically supported smoke-free measures in response to threats that the illicit tobacco market might grow..”
Officials urge Associate Health Minister Casey Costello to retain parts of smokefree laws (New Zealand Herald)
New Zealand Outlines Plan That Will Ban Younger People From Ever Buying A Cigarette In Their Lifetime (Forbes)
