Wellington, New Zealand: New Zealand’s new conservative government will scrap world-leading anti-smoking measures, new Prime Minister Christopher Luxon confirmed on Monday, in a move described by health campaigners as a “huge victory for the tobacco industry”.
Unveiled under former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, the so-called “generational smoking ban” aimed to ban the sale of cigarettes to anyone born after 2008.
Praised by public health experts and anti-smoking campaigners, a series of almost identical measures were recently announced in the UK.
But after being sworn in on Monday, Luxon confirmed New Zealand would scrap the laws before they came into effect, citing fears of a flourishing black market.
Luxon conceded that tax revenue from ongoing cigarette sales would also provide welcome income for the government, but insisted that was “not the motivation for doing this”.
Anti-smoking group Health Coalition Aotearoa – the Maori name for New Zealand – said the policy reversal was an insult to the country.
“This is a huge loss for public health and a huge win for the tobacco industry, whose profits will be boosted at the expense of Kiwi lives,” the group said in a statement.
Luxon said the cigarette ban would “create an opportunity for a black market to emerge that would be largely untaxed”.
The legislation, due to come into force later this year, is expected to reduce the number of people using tobacco products almost immediately.
While the number of adults smoking in New Zealand is already relatively low at just eight per cent, the previous government had envisioned a future where the country was completely smoke-free.
As well as the ever-increasing age limit, the new law would have slashed the number of retailers able to sell tobacco products to a maximum of just 600 nationwide, a massive reduction from the current 6,000.