Hahe Smokefree
Environments and Regulated Products (Smoked Tobacco)
Amendment Act took effect on January 1, 2023. This
includes the introduction of regulations which will reduce
the availability, appeal and addictiveness of tobacco
products.
Retailers
have fought against the changes since they were
proposed, claiming more time is needed to prepare for the
financial consequences, and that they will experience
significant hardship if the regulations are
introduced.
“This is an insincere and callous position
to take, and frankly I’m appalled,” says Selah Hart, Chief
Executive Officer of Hāpai Te Hauora, the largest Māori
public health organisation in Aotearoa. “Retailers have had
a decade to prepare for these changes, and I do not accept
that further delays, with the loss of 500 whānau each year
to tobacco related disease, is worth it.”
“As the
national tobacco control advocacy service sine 2013, we have
seen every trick in the book utilised by vested interests
from the biggest tobacco company to the smallest dairy
selling cigarettes illegally to children. We cannot allow
profit to be prioritised over our people’s health any
longer. Our precious tamariki mokopuna deserve a future free
from the illnesses that ravaged their parents and
grandparents generations, and our health system – already
stretched to breaking point – needs our collective effort to
reduce the burden from tobacco use.”
Leitu Tufuga,
Team Lead of the National Tobacco Control Advocacy service
for Hāpai Te Hauora reflects on the Smokefree Action Plan
consultation in late 2022. “During the public consultations
last year, community voices, particularly from Māori and
Pasifika, shared their lived experiences about the harm
tobacco has had to their families and subsequently the
graves they continue to visit because of lives lost to
tobacco related disease. There was unanimous support from
those most impacted, that we need to significantly reduce
tobacco sold in their neighbourhoods in order to see their
communities flourish”.
Ms. Hart concludes “We
encourage anyone with an interest in transforming the health
of our communities for the better to have a say at this
pivotal moment in our fight against tobacco related disease.
We may not have the resources of the tobacco companies, but
we can be heard if we demand to be listened to.”
The
Public Health Agency within Te Manatū Hauora (Ministry of
Health) commence targeted consultation with the most
impacted population group, Māori, in Whangarei on Thursday
7th February at 7pm and will travel across Aotearoa over the
coming month.
A concurrent consultation process for
Pasifika communities is occurring across a number of
locations led by Tala Pasifika – Pacific Action for Change (
full schedule
here) and supported by Hāpai Te Hauora.
Alongside
these face to face opportunities to have your voice heard,
the online
submissions are open until 5pm, 15th March 2023 and all
details on the proposed changes can be found here.
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