New coalition government of New Zealand to scrap the generational smoking ban

The new coalition government of New Zealand is planning and determined to scrap the generational smoking ban that would ban tobacco sales to those born after 01/01/2008 that was voted in by the previous government of the NZ Labor Party as the National Party, the Act Party and New Zealand First form the new right-wing libertarian coalition government of New Zealand that prevailed after the 24th of November general election which is set to scrap the generational ban on smoking that would ban tobacco sales to those born after 2008.

The declarations were made by the parties forming the new government in Wellington that said that the past Labor government’s amendments to the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products Act 1990 that were voted for on the 13th of December 2022 and especially increasing the legal age to purchase tobacco annually as a variable is planned to be scrapped by next March 2024 while the number of retail outlets where tobacco can be sold will be restored back to 6000 from 600 that was limited by means of a licence requirement and other permits by the previous Labor government as a result of the same legislation.

Now that Rishi Sunak stood alone on this, he is being urged to reverse his announcement made in his party’s annual conference in Manchester before the Israeli war with the Hamas militants that proposed to import the generational ban on smoking to the UK, as has happened with many Asian and European nations that want to imitate the defunct policy of New Zealand. One of them is Malaysia where it was declared unconstitutional from the Attorney General and dropped from drafting the tobacco and vapes control bill.

The director and Chairman of British smokers’ rights group FOREST welcomed the news by urging the British prime minister to cancel his plans for the Tobacco and Vapes Bill by stating that “The policy treats future generations of adults like kids and it won’t work. It will simply drive smokers into the hands of illegal traders and criminal gangs. The consequences of the policy, which would eventually allow a 40-year-old to legally buy cigarettes while denying that right to a 39-year-old, are absurd. Having stolen the idea from the previous New Zealand government, the prime minister should follow the example of the next New Zealand government and scrap this crazy plan. It’s a waste of parliamentary time when there are far more pressing issues that require the Government’s attention before the next election.”.

Cristopher Snowdon who is director of Lifestyle economics at London-based Institute of Economic Affairs said that “The eccentric idea of a generational smoking ban is doomed to failure. It is an unworkable pipe dream that will only enrich tobacco smugglers and erode respect for the law while doing little to reduce smoking. The Kiwi U-turn comes just weeks after the Malaysian government abandoned a similar policy because age discrimination is unconstitutional. Prime Minster Rishi Sunak now stands alone in the world, carrying the torch of a policy dreamt up by Jacinda Ardern at the fag end of a Labour government on the other side of the world”.