To: The New Zealand Government
Strengthen New Zealand's SmokeFree Legislation
New Zealand needs to further regulate smoking for the sake of New Zealanders' public health. Smoking has been proven to be harmful to our health and contributes to 5,000 premature deaths in New Zealand each year (Health Coalition Aotearoa, 2024). We can take action to reduce the toll smoking takes on New Zealanders, and we believe that the government has a responsibility to act on this through policy change. Improving public health is a worthwhile goal, and through this policy change, we could make a real impact on the quality and enjoyment of life for New Zealanders.
We seek a policy change to introduce licenses for the sale of smoked tobacco products (akin to those required to sell liquor – currently, those selling tobacco products currently only need to notify the Ministry of Health that they are selling these products), placing limits on new stores applying for these licenses, restricting the nicotine that can be present in a product, and requiring approval for new tobacco products to enter the market. We believe that this policy change could significantly improve the public health of New Zealanders.
Through policy change, we stand to help lower addiction, restoring to New Zealanders the ability to choose to quit smoking. We could lower the adverse health effects associated with smoking, including cancer, gum disease, and a myriad of other tolls taken on the body by this harmful product (Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora, 2025). This policy change is based in part on the 2022 legislation, which was described as “world-leading” before its repeal in 2024. However, we have prioritised the measures we believe would have the most significant immediate benefit for New Zealanders and those likely to gain support across party lines.
The changes are largely similar, but our proposed licensing scheme is aimed at regulating tobacco retailers immediately and limiting them in the long term, rather than a strict limit of 600 stores, which could disadvantage local business owners. We have chosen not to prioritise the Smokefree Generation, as we agree it would have long-term benefits, but we are prioritising changes that will deliver the greatest benefits now. We hope that this prioritisation will aid our proposed policy change in getting the widespread support it needs to become legislation.
Through policy change, we stand to help lower addiction, restoring to New Zealanders the ability to choose to quit smoking. We could lower the adverse health effects associated with smoking, including cancer, gum disease, and a myriad of other tolls taken on the body by this harmful product (Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora, 2025). This policy change is based in part on the 2022 legislation, which was described as “world-leading” before its repeal in 2024. However, we have prioritised the measures we believe would have the most significant immediate benefit for New Zealanders and those likely to gain support across party lines.
The changes are largely similar, but our proposed licensing scheme is aimed at regulating tobacco retailers immediately and limiting them in the long term, rather than a strict limit of 600 stores, which could disadvantage local business owners. We have chosen not to prioritise the Smokefree Generation, as we agree it would have long-term benefits, but we are prioritising changes that will deliver the greatest benefits now. We hope that this prioritisation will aid our proposed policy change in getting the widespread support it needs to become legislation.
Why is this important?
Smoking and similar nicotine products have been shown to have significant detriments to an individual’s health. Yet, smoking is still under-regulated in New Zealand. New Zealand is committed to a “Smokefree 2025”, with under 5% of New Zealanders smoking by the year 2025; this deadline came and went with 8.3% of New Zealanders being smokers and 6.8% smoking daily in 2024-2025 according to the New Zealand Health Survey (Ministry of Health – Manatū Hauora, 2025).
New Zealand has lacked direction on smoking policy since legislation was passed in 2024 that overturned the policies aimed at decreasing smoking rates introduced in 2022 (Chisholm, 2024). The 2022 policies were described as “world-leading” (Chisholm, 2024), but were scrapped without a clear alternative plan. Smoking remains just as damaging to health as it was at the time of the 2022 legislation, so why is there no action being taken to reduce this damage? We believe New Zealand must remain committed to minimising the health detriments of smoking and similar nicotine products, and that new governmental policy should support this.
New Zealand has lacked direction on smoking policy since legislation was passed in 2024 that overturned the policies aimed at decreasing smoking rates introduced in 2022 (Chisholm, 2024). The 2022 policies were described as “world-leading” (Chisholm, 2024), but were scrapped without a clear alternative plan. Smoking remains just as damaging to health as it was at the time of the 2022 legislation, so why is there no action being taken to reduce this damage? We believe New Zealand must remain committed to minimising the health detriments of smoking and similar nicotine products, and that new governmental policy should support this.
Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora (2025), smoking can cause gum disease and cancer, as well as damage vision, lungs, making it hard to breathe, and can cause premature signs of ageing in the skin.
By introducing legislation that properly regulates the sale of tobacco and nicotine products in New Zealand, we can make progress towards a future in which the happiness and health of New Zealanders are prioritised over the bottom lines of big tobacco companies. We seek a change in legislation that looks towards New Zealand’s future and makes genuine positive change for the health of New Zealanders.
References:
Chisholm, D. (2024). Up in Smoke. In Ingenio (pp. 20–22). Waipapa Taumata Rau University of Auckland. https://www.auckland.ac.nz/assets/alumni/whats-happening/alumni-publications/ingenio-autumn-2024/Ingenio-autumn-2024-web.pdf
Health Coalition Aotearoa. (2024, April 22). Tobacco and Vaping. Health Coalition Aotearoa. https://www.healthcoalition.org.nz/tobacco-and-vaping/
Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora. (2025). What smoking is doing to your body. Smokefree.Org.Nz. https://www.smokefree.org.nz/facts/health-effects/what-smoking-is-doing-to-your-body
Ministry of Health – Manatū Hauora. (2025, November 19). New Zealand Health Survey highlights long-term decline in smoking rates. Ministry of Health NZ. https://www.health.govt.nz/news/new-zealand-health-survey-highlights-long-term-decline-in-smoking-rates