No extra funding for new smoking action plan as daily smokers increase

Associate Health Minister Casey Costello maintains the Smokefree 2025 target is still achievable. Photo / Mark Mitchell

The Government is committing no extra funding for its new plan to reduce smoking, despite having only 13 months to hit the Smokefree 2025 target while the number of daily smokers increases.

Associate Health Minister Casey Costello remains “absolutely committed” to meeting the target, set in 2011, to reduce the proportion of daily smokers in New Zealand to 5% by the end of 2025, claiming past efforts prove it is possible.

Data from the 2023/24 New Zealand Health Survey, released this week, found about 300,000 adults or 6.9% were daily smokers. That was a slight increase from 6.8% the previous year. It was a much lower proportion than the 12.9% in 2018/19.

For Māori, 14.7% were smokers, which was a decrease from 17.1% in the previous year and aligned with the trend over the past six years.

Smoking in Pacific communities had almost doubled from 6.4% to 12.3%, however, the survey authors noted the Pacific data was more variable due to smaller populations. In 2011/12, smokers made up 22.6% of the Pacific population.

Ahead of the data release, Costello had been keenly waiting to see if the long-term trend of smoking numbers decreasing was reflected in this year’s survey.

Casey Costello, also a NZ First MP, has faced plenty of criticism for her smoking reform work. Photo / Mike Scott

Speaking to the Herald this week, Costello accepted it was disappointing to see a slight increase.

“When you [see] the headline figure, you go, ‘Damn it’, because I knew there was going to be a lot of noise in the space.

“But then when you broke it down, there were some really good news stories in there.”

She said she was encouraged by the continued decrease in Māori smokers, as well as the low levels among teenagers at 0.6%.

“We know we’ve got a handle on the young smoker environment, which has been that real concern.”

Costello also maintained she hadn’t had enough time to make a real impact on smoking levels, claiming the recent health reforms complicated access to available funding.

Citing conversations with quit-smoking providers, Costello said referrals from hospitals and GPs had become less frequent. She also claimed a lot of “energy and time” had been consumed in responding to the sustained attacks from the Opposition and public health experts about the repeal of the previous Labour Government’s smoke-free generation legislation.

Costello would be announcing the Government’s next smoking action plan next week.

While she wouldn’t reveal any details from the plan, Costello said it would be centred on “refocusing” health service providers to boost referrals of smokers to quit-smoking providers.

Despite next year’s target requiring about 80,000 people to quit in 13 months, Costello confirmed no new funding would be devoted to the new plan.

Costello argued a similar-sized reduction had been achieved in 2022/23 with the same pot of funding, proving the same could be done in the coming year.

She added the new plan would incorporate a refreshed marketing campaign and have a strong focus on enforcement targeting the point of sale. Costello said she was committed to achieving Smokefree 2025.

The Government’s smoking reduction policies were based on those developed by New Zealand First.

Party leader Winston Peters today said he also believed the 5% target would be reached.

In a statement, Labour leader Chris Hipkins criticised the Government for its decision to cut excise tax for heated tobacco products while smoking rates had risen for the first time in more than a decade.

Adam Pearse is a political reporter in the NZ Herald Press Gallery team, based at Parliament. He has worked for NZME since 2018, covering sport and health for the Northern Advocate in Whangārei before moving to the NZ Herald in Auckland, covering Covid-19 and crime.