Stop smoke service losing funding over vape refusal says clause wasn’t in original contract
Saturday, 13 December 2025
A stop smoking provider says the decision to cut its contract on the basis it has refused to hand out vaping kits as part of its cessation programme was not a part of the contract when it was signed.
Takiri Mai te Ata Trust regional manager Catherine Manning said the Wellington-based trust received an email this week stating it had to either start supplying the vape kits or have its contract terminated, despite signing a new contract earlier that year.
The vape kits initiative started in January this year as part of the Government’s Getting to Smokefree 2025 action plan, with Health NZ agreeing to a second round of device and pod funding, removing the option for services to opt out.
Manning was shocked at the requirement, and said that vaping was another form of addiction rather than a solution.
“It's no secret that the addiction that's happening with our tamariki (children) and mokopuna (grandchildren) has been quite huge when it comes to vaping products,” she said.
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Health NZ’s interim national director of Hauora Māori Service, Selah Hart, said it has a nationally consistent contract in place which states vaping devices must be provided to support adults to quit - with it being the last option to try - alongside other tools such as Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT) and prescription medicines.
But Manning said these contract expectations were announced a month after the trust had signed to renew its contract, with an online meeting in September announcing a new national direction that “vaping products will be provided as an additional quit option”.
Before then she said there was nothing that said providers had to give out vaping kits, instead saying providers must be open to providing nicotine products, which the trust does.
When signing the contract in August this year, she said their position was clearly stated.
“We said, ‘if this is a part of your deliverables for the next coming contract then we're the wrong provider for you.”
Manning said the trust would not compromise on its tikanga (customs) or policies. If its contract is terminated, the service would not be able to continue.
Vaping did not morally or ethically align with Māori tikanga, and she said the trust had a desire to protect both the breath and the whakapapa.
She said there was “a huge resistance” in the community to have the vapes dispersed free of charge.
“They don't want these kits out there for our kids to get their hands on.”
“It’s totally accessible, it’s affordable and it’s attractive and it’s the same as when the generation before me looked at smoking.”
She also disagreed with supplying vapes given they were not Medsafe approved.
Manning believed there was a thought-process in New Zealand that to make the Smoke-free 2025 target, people needed to be transitioned off tobacco and onto vapes, which she said was a “skewing of numbers” as it was still addiction.
The service is based at Kōkiri Marae Health and Social Services, a marae based provider which serves whānau across Te Awakairangi and Greater Wellington.
Health NZ gives the trust just under $3 million across a two year period. It must complete targets to renew its contract - such as having 60% of its referrals enrolled, and recieved 1500 referrals last year.
Takiri Mai te Ata Trust has delivered stop smoking services for more than 25 years. A terminated contract to her represented a switch from a “partnership” to a “dictatorship”.
“We’ve never been prescribed to ‘this is exactly what you need to do’, what they’ve said is … ‘you know your community best, you know what works for your whānau best.’”
It is understood two other organisations opted out of the vape kit programme but have now complied.
Associate Health Minister Casey Costello said she is aware Health NZ is continuing to work with stop smoking providers to ensure that there are nationally consistent contracts in place across all funded services.
She said quit smoking providers should be able to offer the options that have been proven successful in supporting smokers to quit.
“We know that vapes are a successful smoking cessation tool and that their introduction in New Zealand contributed to significant decreases in our smoking rates.”
‘Questions of integrity’ over Health NZ process
Vape-Free Kids NZ co-founder Charyl Robinson said the sequence of events around the contract raised serious questions of integrity.
“You can't renew a contract with full knowledge of a provider’s kaupapa and then later punish them for upholding those values. That is bad faith.”
She said the organisation rejected the framing of vaping as a benign or neutral cessation tool, particularly in a country grappling with an escalating youth nicotine addiction crisis with particular impacts for Māori youth.
“Vapes are recreational, not Medsafe approved therapeutic products for safe use in helping people to quit smoking.”
She pointed to the State of Cancer Report published on Thursday, which states, “there is emerging evidence to suggest that the use of vaping products may increase the risk of cancer”.
She questioned the legality and ethics of the Government making services provide unapproved treatments.
“If they want vapes to be used in this way then subject them to the full Medsafe approval process.”
Vaping kits labelled a success
Hart said vaping has been an important tool in reducing smoking in New Zealand and that it is significantly less harmful than smoking.
“Our position is clear – if you smoke, vaping is less harmful; if you don’t smoke, don’t vape.”
The Health NZ website noted early results showed “high uptake and engagement”, especially among adults who have not succeeded with quitting smoking by using other methods.
Of the 5261 people who quit smoking between January and August this year, 1889 people - 36% of people who quit smoking - used a Health New Zealand vape kit.