The new prime minister, who had just come to power, expressed fears about the emergence of a black market in tobacco and also mentioned tax revenue from cigarette sales.
As soon as he came to power, the controversy swelled. On Monday, former Air New Zealand boss Christopher Luxon officially took office as prime minister of New Zealand’s conservative coalition government, with fighting inflation high on his list of priorities.
This inauguration comes six weeks after the victory of his political party, the National Party, in the national election that ended the Labor Party’s six-year term.
A ban is planned for people born after 2008
In his first speech, the same Christopher Luxon reiterated his intention to abandon the country’s pioneering measures to combat smoking. Last year, former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern had Parliament pass a “generational smoking ban” that banned the sale of cigarettes to anyone born after 2008.
The new head of government justifies this decision with the risks of creating a black market for the sale of tobacco. He also acknowledged that tax revenue from ongoing cigarette sales would also generate welcome revenue for the government, but stressed that this was “not the motivation for it.”
“Big victory for the tobacco industry”
Anti-smoking group Health Coalition Aotearoa – the Maori name for New Zealand – said abandoning the policy was an insult to the country.
“This is a major loss for public health and a major victory for the tobacco industry, whose profits are increased at the expense of the lives of New Zealanders,” the group said in a statement.
For his part, Ben Youdan, director of the NGO Action on Smoking and Health, regrets the abandonment of a “world first” that “was supposed to save thousands and thousands of lives.” It will cost us a lot of money to abandon this policy, tobacco-related deaths and illnesses will continue to occur.”
The aim of the law was to reduce the number of tobacco users almost immediately, in a country where the number of adult smokers is already relatively low but where smoking-related cancers are high.
The text envisaged a gradual increase in the minimum age for purchasing tobacco products and would have drastically reduced the number of shops allowed to sell tobacco to a maximum of 600 across the country.
In general, the number of sellers authorized to sell tobacco products will be reduced to 600, a significant reduction compared to the current 6,000 in the country. In France, the average price of the package is expected to increase by 40 to 50 cents, reaching 12 euros in 2024.