Anti-smoking group Health Coalition Aotearoa says the coalition Government is intent on putting Aotearoa’s most vulnerable communities – especially Māori and Pacifika – back into the grip of the tobacco industry.
Co-chair Professor Lisa Te Morenga says Associate Health Minister Casey Costello’s decision to halve excise taxes on heated tobacco products is another blow to the plan to make Aotearoa smokefree by 2025.
“She’s gone ahead and made this decision, in the face of recommendations by her own Ministry of Health and also against the weight of expert voice and opinion in the country from people who have worked a long, long time in public health tobacco control that this is a really bad idea,” Professor Te Morenga says.
She says this government will be remembered for rolling back innovative tobacco control measures and opening the door for the tobacco industry to predate on the next generation of New Zealanders.
