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New Zealand’s centre-right National Party has today sealed a coalition agreement with two other populist and libertarian parties after six years of rule by the left-leaning Labour Party.
The new government, led by incoming prime minister Christopher Luxon, will take power after weeks of drawn-out coalition talks that have resulted in the ditching of various controversial policies.
According to the coalition document, the new government will “repeal amendments to the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products Act 1990 and regulations before March 2024, removing requirements for denicotisation, removing the reduction in retail outlets and the generation ban, while also amending vaping product requirements and taxing smoked products only.”
In the UK, prime minister Rishi Sunak announced at last month’s Conservative Party Conference that he intended to introduce a ‘generational’ tobacco ban based on the NZ model that would see the age of sale rise by one year, every year – meaning anyone born after a certain date would never be legally able to buy tobacco products.
