Coalition Government to forge ahead with repeal of smokefree laws, Māori Health Authority this week

The coalition Government is set to repeal Labour’s smokefree measures and the Māori Health Authority under urgency today as it goes ahead with ticking items off its 100 Days plan.

Associate Health Minister Casey Costello will introduce legislation today to repeal Labour’s moves for a ban on cigarette sales for people born after January 1 2009, as well as moves to limit the outlets that can sell tobacco and reduce nicotine in tobacco.

The move has been controversial for the Government, with health experts saying it was a backward step and calling on the Government to change its mind.

In a 1News Verian Poll taken this month which asked if voters supported the repeal of the smokefree measures, 60 per cent said no, while 30 per cent supported the move.

The remaining 10 per cent did not know or refused to answer the question.

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon yesterday defended the Government on the issue, rejecting accusations that it was doing the bidding of tobacco companies as “a load of rubbish”.

He said Labour’s measures had not yet come into effect and National would be reinstating the previous law, which had been successful in getting smoking rates down over several years. “In the last decade, it’s gone from 17 per cent down to 6.8 per cent. It’s the same piece of legislation that we’re going to be adopting.”

This week’s legislation will not include any new initiatives for tobacco control, although Costello is understood to be taking proposals to Cabinet soon.

Labour’s health spokeswoman, Ayesha Verrall, said it was disappointing the Government was forging ahead with the repeal. “It’s hugely disappointing the Government hasn’t listened to tens of thousands of New Zealanders who signed petitions, thousands of health professionals, and the fact repeal is very unpopular with the public.”

The announcement the measures would be repealed last year resulted in protests at Parliament and a petition organised by Māori public health group Hāpai Te Hauora which had about 47,000 signatures. An open letter by the Health Coalition Aotearoa was signed by more than 100 health organisations.

Labour’s reforms would not have kicked in until June this year, when the number of retailers would have dropped. Nicotine levels would have dropped from April next year and the age ban was due to come into effect in January 2027.

It comes as the Government tries to cram the rest of its 100-day plan promises into the remaining two weeks before the March 8 deadline.

This week will also deliver the move to scrap the Māori Health Authority, which National, Act and NZ First had all opposed under the previous Government’s health reforms.

Urgency will also be used to scrap the Auckland regional fuel tax and remove the availability of legal aid for section 27 cultural reports in sentencing.

The scrapping of the Māori Health Authority will happen just days before a Waitangi Tribunal hearing on an urgent claim over the issue on Thursday.

Luxon said the timing was not deliberate, but it would not affect the decision to scrap the MHA. He said it was something all three parties had campaigned on.

Luxon said he was certain the Government would manage to get through all items on the 100-day plan, saying 16 remained to be done. “We will do whatever it takes. If we have to go to midnight we will, if we have to sit on Fridays we will. It’s basically a rate of a run a ball we have to hit – it’s 14 days and 16 actions.”

The Government’s gang legislation is also set to get its first reading soon – although Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith said it would go through the usual select committee process and public submissions, so it would likely not pass into law until the end of the year.

Yesterday, Education Minister Erica Stanford announced an independent review into school building projects, saying the Ministry of Education had found about 350 instances in which school projects had been put on hold because of a lack of funding, overambitious designs or cost blowouts.

Luxon said the management of school building projects was “bordering on a crisis” and it needed a thorough review. In some cases, projects which were about to begin had been deferred or scrapped at the last minute because of the cost – leaving schools disappointed.

Stanford accused the former Labour Government of knowing about the problem but failing to do anything about it.

However, Labour leader Chris Hipkins – who was Education Minister through most of Labour’s six years in Government – said National was trying to justify scrapping school building projects because it had not taken them into account in its fiscal plan.

“Cost escalations in the building sector have been a fact of life. National were told before the election they hadn’t allowed enough for cost escalations in their fiscal plan and chose to ignore that and claim tax cuts were affordable. They aren’t and now it looks like kids will be the latest to pay the price.”

He said the Labour Government had followed the processes for school projects which had been set up by the National Government before it.