New Police Minister Stuart Nash has not impressed dairy owners with his proposed plan to speed up tobacco sale reductions. Photo / NZME
New Police Minister Stuart Nash has not impressed dairy owners with his proposed plan to speed up tobacco sale reductions. Photo / NZME
Dairy owners says plans by new Police Minister Stuart Nash to limit the number of stores that can sell tobacco could “decimate” the industry and send businesses to the wall.
Nash announced last week he wants to hasten the scheduled reduction of dairies that can sell cigarettes, and is engaging fellow ministers with the aim of preventing ram raids.
The Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products (Smoked Tobacco) Amendment Bill, which was successfully introduced into law last year by former Associate Health Minister Dr Ayesha Verrall, who is now the Health Minister, prohibited the sale of smoked tobacco products to anyone born on or after January 1, 2009.
It also included a restriction on the number of businesses that could sell smoked tobacco products - no more than 600 nationally.
Dairy and Business Owners’ Group Incorporated spokesman Sandeep Aggarwal said Nash’s plans to hasten this process would mean a loss of confidence in the third police minister in less than eight months.
“Mr Nash’s reported ‘big idea’ would destroy the victims,” Aggarwal said.
“Speeding up the removal of cigarettes from legal sellers like us and service stations, only 16 months away now, will leave 90 per cent of businesses only weeks to reorganise or to close.
“This is not a retail reduction plan but decimation.”
Aggarwal blamed a recent crime emergency, in which small shops had been targeted in ram raid attacks and aggravated robberies, on tobacco taxes and GST, explaining that a kilogram of tobacco is worth almost $2000.
“Last year, Mr Nash’s government creamed $68 a second and $5.8 million a day from smokers,” Aggarwal said.
“Most of the $2.1 billion collected in tax and GST came from the poorest.”
If the Government wanted to stop crime and poverty, it should look in the mirror, Aggarwal said.
“It’s not the ciggies driving crime, it’s the taxes.”
Nash, who held the police portfolio in 2017, told reporters last week it was his understanding many people committing ram raids did so to get tobacco products.
Many retailers around the country had already opted to stop selling tobacco, he said.
“Ngā Tai Ora Public Health Unit in Northland did a survey looking at 25 retailers who made the choice to end the sale of tobacco, and 88 per cent of those businesses experienced either a neutral or positive financial impact.”
New Zealand introduced world-leading tobacco legislation last year. Photo / Thinkstock
Last week, National Party police spokesman Mark Mitchell advised Nash to speak to retailers and hear their concerns.
Mitchell said business owners had told him they feared reducing the number of retailers that could sell tobacco would make them a more lucrative target for ram raiders and limiting tobacco access would fuel a black market.
Aggarwal agreed, saying places like Patea in Taranaki and Moerewa in Northland would have no legal outlets.
“That’s an invitation for illegal sellers to set up illegal shops,” Aggarwal said.
Retail NZ chief executive Greg Harford said business owners had been concerned about the implications of the legislation, particularly around how businesses would be approved, and if it would make them more appealing to criminals.
“There is a bit of concern out there about what the new arrangements are going to mean,” he said.
“I think our view generally is that it’s not a good idea to do this.”
Harford questioned whether the Ministry of Health, now Te Whatu Ora, was best placed to decide where consumers should be able to purchase products, saying the authority should be given to retailers.
