Former Te Tai Tokerau MP Hone Harawira says there's roadblock in the Smokefree 2025 campaign - the plan needs clear targets and funding to achieve its aims.
Smokefree 2025 won't happen unless the Government sets clear targets and spends the money to achieve those targets, according to former Te Tai Tokerau MP Hone Harawira, who led the stop smoking campaign in Parliament that gave rise to the 2025 target.
The Smokefree 2025 campaign aims to have less
than 5 per cent of the population smoking tobacco by 2025.
"The minister is hailing the current campaign as 'bold', but belated and behind schedule is probably a more apt description," he said.
"We should have seen the funding allocation to control and eliminate tobacco in Aotearoa go from 2 per cent to 50 per cent over the last 10 years.
"Unfortunately, it's only gone from 2 per cent to 3 per cent, while the Government rakes in nearly $2 billion in tobacco taxes every year, and spends it mostly on everything else but tobacco control.
