Devastation and celebration at binning of smokefree legislation

Tuesday, 28 November 2023

The prime minister is standing by his decision to repeal world-first smokefree legislation that researchers say could save 8000 lives by 2040.

A Christchurch anti-smoking advocate says she is devastated the new Government plans to repeal New Zealand’s world-first smokefree legislation.

However, a local dairy owner is celebrating the move saying that being able to sell cigarettes beyond 2023 will give him the confidence to consider expanding his business.

National’s coalition agreements with both ACT and New Zealand First outline their intention to repeal the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products Amendment Act 2022.

The changes would have reduced the number of outlets selling tobacco products from 6000 to 600, reduced the amount of nicotine in cigarettes and made it illegal to sell tobacco products to anyone born on or after January 1, 2009.

A peer reviewed study into the effects of those interventions found denicotisation alone would have “immediate, marked and enduring impact on smoking prevalence”.

Teresa Butler (Ngāti Porou/Te Arawa) is the chairperson of Smokefree Canterbury and was a list candidate for Te Pāti Māori in the recent elections, but spoke to The Press in a personal capacity. She said there were no health gains to be made by this decision.

Butler’s mother died at 72 as a result of her life-long smoking habit. Butler herself started smoking at 9 and only quit seven years ago while she was pregnant with her daughter.

Teresa Butler says communities will now have to find their own solutions to stop people smoking, after the Government announced it would repeal major smokefree legislation.

“I hate it [that this legislation is being repealed] because personally this has affected me. This is what my mother died of,” she said.

She said she never actually thought the Government was going to make these changes and so she now has many questions for Christopher Luxon, including how much money the British Tobacco Company spent on the coalition parties’ election campaigns.

“Is this what you think of the deadliest product available in New Zealand killing Māori? You’re going to allow this to happen?” she said.

Smoking rates have halved in the past 10 years, according to the New Zealand Health Survey.

About 331,000 adults are still daily smokers, around 8% of the New Zealand population, with another 50,000 smoking on a less regular basis. The smoking rate is higher for Māori, about 19%. About 5000 people die each year from smoking-related conditions.

The Smokefree 2025 campaign aims to have fewer than 5% of New Zealanders smoking within two years.

A recent study, commissioned by the Ministry of Health, into the potential effects of the then-proposed Smokefree legislation was published in the British Medical Journal’s Tobacco Control Journal.

The 2022 Smokefree legislation was forecast to achieve less than 5% smoking prevalence by 2025 for non-Māori and by 2027 for Māori.

It forecasted New Zealand would reach that target by 2025 for non-Māori and by 2027 for Māori if it was implemented this year.

It found that the regulations would potentially avert more than 8000 deaths and save the health system $1.3 billion between 2020 and 2040 and concluded the legislation would “deliver large health benefits and dramatically reduce health inequities between Māori and non-Māori”.

Health Coalition Aotearoa (HCA) said it was extremely disappointed to hear about the changes, and believed it would cost thousands of lives.

“This is a major loss for public health, and a huge win for the tobacco industry – whose profits will be boosted at the expense of Kiwi lives,” HCA co-chairperson Professor Boyd Swinburn said.

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon admitted the tax generated from the sale of cigarettes would help pay for tax cuts but said that was not the motivation for changing the legislation.

Shailesh Patel, owner of the Harewood Superette, says tobacco products make up about 50% of his revenue.

Instead, he said it was because of the three parties opposition to “practical elements” such as the concentration of cigarettes driving crime, the opportunity for a black market and the age ban.

Luxon said he was still committed to reducing tobacco use but has not yet given any detail on how this would be achieved without the Smokefree regulations.

Relief for tobacco retailers

Harewood Dairy owner Shailesh Patel said he was relieved to hear the Government would be throwing the recent smokefree changes on the legislative bonfire, and felt common sense had prevailed.

Under the previous Labour Government’s changes, the number of outlets able to sell tobacco products in Christchurch was set to be slashed to 13 by June 30, 2024.

Patel did not want his dairy to be one of them as he feared those outlets would become a target for criminals.

The businessman said he would wait until the legislation has been formally repealed before making any decisions, but he was now considering expanding.

“We can get on with our lives, start planning for the new financial year and possibly then look at acquiring a new business.”

Patel said while selling cigarettes felt morally wrong, tobacco products made up 50% of his revenue, so as a business owner he had to think about what he had to do to ensure his business survived.