Bay of Plenty Times
  • Bay of Plenty Times home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Sport
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Sport

Locations

  • Coromandel & Hauraki
  • Katikati
  • Tauranga
  • Mount Maunganui
  • Pāpāmoa
  • Te Puke
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Thames
  • Tauranga
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Bay of Plenty Times

Ministry of Health is exploring the feasibility of a sugar tax but Govt says it won't implement one this term

Jason Walls
By Jason Walls
Political Editor – Newstalk ZB·NZ Herald·
28 Jan, 2019 06:20 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

In a statement to the Herald, Health Minister David Clark said he only received the final version of the draft document recently and he has yet to consider it. Photo / Mark Mitchell

In a statement to the Herald, Health Minister David Clark said he only received the final version of the draft document recently and he has yet to consider it. Photo / Mark Mitchell

The Ministry of Health is looking into a sugar tax but the Government continues to rule one out for the time being.

Health Minister David Clark said the ministry chose to prepare a document, which explored the feasibility of a sugar tax, to provide him with a range of potential interventions to help tackle obesity.

That document also looked into the feasibility of reducing restaurants portion sizes.

Improving long-term health outcomes was a key focus of the document, obtained by Act through the Official Information Act (OIA).

The document says areas for future work could include taxes, levies and prices, "eg. sugar-sweetened beverage tax or minimum pricing".

Other areas include:

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

• Reduced portion sizes from manufacturers, restaurants and in retail

• Restricting access of processed foods around or near schools and workplaces

• The reformulation of processed foods

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

• Looking into advertising, marketing and price promotions

• Mandatory health ratings and sugar labelling

Act leader David Seymour said a sugar tax would punish the majority of New Zealanders, who were responsible people, for the sins of an "irresponsible minority".

"People can't live free and independent lives if they are protected from their own actions by the Government. People should instead be educated and empowered to make good decisions."

Discover more

Opinion: Sugar tax - let's just do it

08 Oct 03:44 PM

OIA documents show Clark received a memo on May 2 last year, ahead of meetings with members of the food and beverage industry, in relation to discussing ways to reduce obesity.

In it, officials said the Ministry of Health was "scoping work to explore the feasibility and impacts of regulatory options, such as a sugar tax" as well as other policy options.

That scoping document revealed that midway through last year the Ministry of Health produced an analysis of interventions and potential regulatory changes, which could increase the availability of "less-processed foods and beverages".

The document said these components, such as a sugar tax, would be considered, but a "detailed implementation" would only be considered if the Minister of Health decided to investigate further.

In a statement to the Herald, Clark said he only received the final version of this draft document recently and he has yet to consider it.

But he reiterated that the Government did not have plans for a sugar tax in this term of Parliament.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

In September, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said: "It should be noted that the Government is not actively considering a tax on sugar or sugary beverages at this time."

The next day when asked about a sugar tax, Clark told Stuff the Government had "ruled out any new taxes in this term of office and so we're not working on that".

He said a sugar tax was "not part of our thinking at this stage", and said he wanted to look at the international evidence.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Bay of Plenty Times

Bay of Plenty Times

Truck driver back at work and walking again after surviving fatal crash

07 Jul 06:00 PM
Bay of Plenty Times

'The man I once trusted violently raped me': Man jailed for attacking ex-wife next to sleeping child

07 Jul 08:00 AM
Bay of Plenty Times

'Do it now, run him over'. Teen who ran over mother's partner twice can finally be named

07 Jul 07:00 AM

From early mornings to easy living

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Bay of Plenty Times

Truck driver back at work and walking again after surviving fatal crash

Truck driver back at work and walking again after surviving fatal crash

07 Jul 06:00 PM

He had nine surgeries: 'There was nothing left - no bones or anything left in my foot.'

'The man I once trusted violently raped me': Man jailed for attacking ex-wife next to sleeping child

'The man I once trusted violently raped me': Man jailed for attacking ex-wife next to sleeping child

07 Jul 08:00 AM
'Do it now, run him over'. Teen who ran over mother's partner twice can finally be named

'Do it now, run him over'. Teen who ran over mother's partner twice can finally be named

07 Jul 07:00 AM
Hunter who feeds the hungry named Volunteer of the Year

Hunter who feeds the hungry named Volunteer of the Year

07 Jul 06:56 AM
Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Bay of Plenty Times e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Bay of Plenty Times
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP