Editorial: Smoking ban reversal by new Government a backwards step for NZ

The new coalition Government's planned repeal of stop-smoking legislation will reverse a world-first move. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Editorial

The new coalition Government’s plan to repeal stop-smoking legislation is an embarrassing, wheezy retreat for Aotearoa, land of the long white cloud.

For a nation that first gave women the vote, scaled Everest, and welcomed a transgender MP, smokefree laws introduced under Jacinda Ardern last year were seen as another trailblazing New Zealand breakthrough.

The policy prevented anyone born after 2008 from ever being legally sold tobacco.

Given the staggering numbers of people killed by smoking – 5000 Kiwis annually, with eight million globally according to the World Health Organization – it seemed to many, a grossly overdue measure.

The next-generation ban was hailed internationally, with other countries including Britain looking to follow our brave lead.

But news this week that the new Christopher Luxon-led Government will stub out the move, has landed another blow to Aotearoa’s ailing clean, green brand.

The argument for repealing the law is that it would drive cigarettes underground and spark a gang-led black market with suddenly zero tobacco taxes - $1 billion over three years, according to Treasury forecasts - rolling into the government coffers.

It was suggested that it would also deal another cruel blow to the humble corner dairy, while Act deputy leader Brooke van Velden felt the move was simply “nanny-state prohibition”, like to cause more societal harm than good.

“Personal responsibility” was trumpeted as a root issue, with calls for yet more health education so individuals can make smart choices for them and their whānau.

But that hasn’t worked in the past.

Ramping up the cost of a packet of cigarettes has helped lower the smoking rate, but the numbers of Pacific people and Māori are still disproportionately high.

In 2019/20, 10.1 per cent of those of European/other ethnicity smoked, compared to 18.3 per cent of Pacific people and 28.7 of Māori.

“This move suggests a disregard for the voices of the communities most affected by tobacco harm - favouring economic interests,” said Hāpai te Hauora chief executive Jason Alexander, who added it would be “catastrophic” for Māori.

Surely removing cigarettes from the shelf will help. Yes, those who are desperate will turn to illicit alternatives to get their fix, but it has to start somewhere.

And we have shown that we can move quickly – and make the right calls – when we need to.

Within six days of the March 15, 2019 terror attacks at two Christchurch mosques, which claimed the lives of 51 innocent New Zealanders, the Ardern Government banned military-style semi-automatics and assault rifles in order to help prevent any future mass shootings.

The gun lobby crowd was unhappy, but the majority of New Zealanders backed the move, thinking it was the right thing to do.

Given the harm and hundreds of thousands of Kiwis killed by smoking over the generations, giving our kids a smokefree future – that one day must extend to the insidious rise of vaping, with its long-term health risks unknown - is again, simply the right thing to do.