While the OIAs over when Doocey knew about cuts to the suicide response are being processed and kicked to touch for 30 days, the last round of OAIs have popped out and we are seeing decisions made by Casey Costello that weight the Smokefree decisions made.
It’s a manipulative and deceptive way of using power that is deceitful and self serving.
Tactics like this rob us all…
Minister left $46b benefit of smokefree reforms out of Cabinet paper
Health officials briefed Casey Costello about new research showing significant economic benefits from the smokefree reforms, but that information was never passed on to Cabinet when the minister proposed repealing the reforms.
Newly released Cabinet documents and briefings to Costello, the associate health minister charged with tobacco control, show the lengths officials went to to try to preserve at least some of the changes passed by the previous government.
While existing anti-smoking measures were important, they alone would only achieve the smokefree goal of a five percent smoking rate for all population groups in 2061, Costello was told. The deadline set by the National government in 2011 was for a smokefree New Zealand by 2025.
“The retail reduction, low nicotine, and smokefree generation legislative policies were developed as a comprehensive ‘endgame’ package to make a step-change in the broader environment so that smoked tobacco became progressively less accessible, appealing and addictive. Implementation of all three policies is modelled to result in a rapid reduction in smoking rates, with a reduction in mortality rates to follow,” officials wrote in a lengthy briefing on December 6, just a week after the Government had been sworn in.
By that stage, the Government’s 100-day plan had already been announced, including the repeal of the three smokefree policies implemented by Labour in 2022. Those policies were to reduce the number of permitted retailers of tobacco products, to require tobacco products to have 95 percent less nicotine than those currently on the market, and to create a “smokefree generation” of people who would never be legally permitted to buy cigarettes.
The briefing, which was leaked to RNZ in late February, has now been publicly released by the Ministry of Health. Unusually, it contains strong pushback to Costello’s plans to repeal the three smokefree changes wholesale, with officials warning of reputational and financial risks to New Zealand and offering compromises instead.
…Costello is a former Tobacco Lobbyist, her interests are the interests of the Tobacco Industry, not the public health of NZ. That she smothered and hid the true cost analysis to serve those tobacco interests is nakedly venal…
In a section outlining the “financial implications” of repealing the reforms, Costello’s Cabinet paper only discussed the costs of reimbursing retailers who had applied for special permits under the old regime and the potential for $1.5 billion in additional revenue from tobacco excise over four years. However, the December 6 briefing contained more information about the economic benefits of the scheme in its own “financial implications” section.
Early estimates had suggested New Zealand might save $5.25b in health costs and $5.88b in increased productivity over the lifetime of the population alive in 2020, officials told Costello.
More recent independent analysis, published in November 2023, found a $17b loss to government out to 2050 from reduced excise revenue and increased superannuation costs from people living longer would be more than offset by a $46b economic benefit over the same period, the briefing said. “The new estimates find the smoked tobacco measures are likely to result in large economic benefits for the total population.”
…if she has hidden this information from the Cabinet, she isn’t operating in a anyone else’s interests than the Tobacco Industry and Luxon should ask for her resignation.
If Newshub sold cigarettes, this Government would have bailed them out already.
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Sack the duplicitous baggage!!
Unlikely to happen of course with this bent CoC Govt. But nonetheless the demand should be raised to keep them on notice.
Met, police, Detectives over, my time, in Aotearoa, most, vacuous.
More confirmation of how corrupt this government is. The most corrupt in history.
A policy that promotes killing alongside the pressures on our health system has no place in NZ.
This is the most dangerous government we have ever had.
I agree.
This lot make John Keys 750 plus lies in the shade.
Yes, it does. Never thought he could be out done but here we are
If it wasn’t hidden from Cabinet, they should all resign.
Seriously how does anyone believe this woman? It’s like having a virtual firearms lobbyist in charge of the firearms act. How does anyone expect a balanced result. The ACT party needs a clean out. Hoggard is bad news as well.
Lets not forget Mckee the Firearms minister is a firearms lobbyist.
The amount of corrupt conflict of interest ministers in this govt is staggering.
McKee is awesome & will create positive change.
Erik you shouda gone to spec savers .
Now is the time for all good female type people to come to the aid of the Party and do something that will please people such as bringing in better cannabis laws. A sufferer of pain who is a good working person tells me that cannabis oil is very good and cuts out the need for other drugs that react against each other. Bring in a NZ grower/supplier to provide prescription oil that is cheaper than the present $120 for a phial apparently. Save Pharmac money for expensive cancer controlling drugs, not curing note. Let NZ gangs grow it under licence and stop taking all their money, just the ill-gotten stuff.
Now that would be a right- wing revolution not only in the doing but that their ideas turned full circle and then some! Cut out high prices for cigarettes by all means, they have a place, and spend the money from cigs and cannabis to be dedicated to helping youth and funding micro businesses and trade training and job teams that are available to carry out work as reliable non-criminals.
That would be a whole new profile for the young doers amongst us who want to get on with life and not learn stuff that some twit has decided they need to know. (They can have time off for additional studies after working for a while, when they are adult students and want to extend themselves. Now what a raft of ideas for a keen Maori person to advance their downtrodden side of the ledger.
Deceit and lies are what the ‘Coalition of Chaos’ does best…
Gotta hand it to them…and they can do it without even blinking.
Clearly, as children, they were never taught right from wrong, the importance of having a strong moral base, and the old wisdoms of do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
And these people, who clearly bought their way into power, are supposed to be setting an example.
What a mess!!!
She should be gone but as the PM is corrupt nothing will happen .She will join Sam and Barb under the carpet .
Detective, our socialist care, is, Ewi, and other, detective, who other.
If someone is still smoking after the years of warning and price increases I would consider them a hopeless case and no law will stop them in the same way it does not stop pot smokers. I am more concerned with vaps as these are destroying our young people .It is the old story of the cure being nearly as bud as the complaint. Unfortunately National were forced into a coalition and really I have little faith in Ministers appointed from either of the other Parties
oh really trev how EXACTLY are vapes destroying our youth considering nicotine has no adverse health effects…please do some actual research before going off on one
Corruption pure and simple. Alongside Shane Jones they don’t even bother to hide it. Disgusting.
The dirty Natzo’s have been dirty since 1936. Prior to 1936 the factions that gave rise to the natzo’s were dirty since day#1.
50 thousand farmers earn our money via exports. Population of NZ=5.2 million of which 3 million are of voting age. There are 14 multi-billionaires, 3118 multi-millionaires each with a $50 million minimum and four foreign owned banks taking $180.00 a second 24/7/365. How? And via whom?
Farmers? Think about it.
Casey Costello is a crook doing crooked shit. Perfectly in line with modern politics.
While it would be great to see her gone I don’t think that Luxon has the integrity to make that call, let’s see if the other media can give this fair coverage and miracles might happen.
And so should her boss and pork barrel Jones. They are going to fuck us up big time.
Wanted
Wanted.
What an utter shit stain NZ First are. Jones & Costello are utterly brazen in their troughing. Keep this up and the pungent mess will rub off on the rest of them and hopefully even the sleepy hobbits won’t fail to notice. One term government here we come!
Hahaha you’re funny. You’re looking at two terms if not 3 or 4 for this govt.
Do try to keep in mind that the coalition of clowns won’t be able to use culture war bullshit as a campaign strategy, as they are in power. That means that 3/4 of their political ammunition is fucking useless. So next election, they will have to campaign on achievements, and so far their achievements are pretty horrific.
3 or 4 terms? Take your meds bruh…
Defending the indefensible Jonzie, like all your post you are hilarious . Lucky to last the year out at this rate. Definitely a one term government.
Shane Jones is the most anti environment minister in this country’s history.
(At least Muldoon’s government was more or less indifferent, though Think Big took a lot of carbon emissions out).
Heard Tanya Unkovich (sp) speak in the General Debate last week – the woman’s a pure conspiracy anti-covid vaccine, anti-mandate nutter!
What on earth have we got in our parliament? Is NZFirst full of grifters, bought politicians and nut cases?
Rhetorical question!
I’m skeptical of any such economic claims.
Every serious economic study I’ve ever seen of the effects of policy that reduces smoking and thus deaths from cancer (almost always post-retirement age) suggests that government spending on healthcare and other costs will increase as the lifespans of former smokers or would-be smokers who never took it up increase.
That’s a solely economic discussion, and completely separate from the morality of whether people should be prevented by government from smoking to increase their lifespans, but the idea that banning smoking tobacco- especially as use of far more harmful drugs like weed increases- will be economically beneficial is pretty dubious.
Bull crap.
Weed is not anywhere near as harmful as tobacco.
Stopping spinning the Atlas networks bull-crap..
The point being made is not whether the analysis is right, but whether it was withheld from Cabinet. If Costello didn’t believe the advice she received was true, she should have found someone to research reputable, peer-reviewed studies to show that there was no (or negative) economic benefit in people living longer – and used these as a counterpoint to the official advice when reporting to cabinet. She either was too hell-bent on her preferred outcome to do this, or studies indicating such a thing are rare on the ground.
I do not often agree with you but support you about pros and cons of tobacco and Weed.
Some die or get sick smoking legal or illegal tobacco.
A good cost benefit study provides good information to help one make decisions. Ideological based policy analysis causes more harm than good.
The information is now out there, OIA, why continue speculating.
Because one can spin information to suit one’s cause. That is what the media does. Social or mainstream. I read, I digest, I rationalise and only then do I decide what I choose to believe.
You will soon enough get another opportunity to vote for your favourite political party.
This government oozes dishonesty, like most of the councils.
They don’t want to know what people really think. Every polling question is loaded to elicit certain answers which certain polling companies gleefully tell us, is the situation. The public is always being manipulated and the last election was a complete shocker for manipulation.
Costello looks as shifty as she possibly is. How can anyone actually think, she is a suitable person for parliament? She was elected by manipulation.
Then when they are found out they will not resign. That would be an admission of dishonesty so they try to keep the front up. Soon the public forgets, having so much to think about already and everything goes back to normal.
Let’s have a 1-strike test for politicians. One lie or discrepancy and they must resign.
On this govt’s record, half of them would be gone already. Think of the savings to the tax-payer, Nicola.
What Joy to see what someone has noticed – a ploy explained and pronounced on which I had felt uncertain about, though knowing something was wrong.
This government oozes dishonesty, like most of the councils.
They don’t want to know what people really think. Every polling question is loaded to elicit certain answers which certain polling companies gleefully tell us, is the situation. The public is always being manipulated and the last election was a complete shocker for manipulation.
she was never elected she coat tailed on winstons dirty arse
Yes, manipulation. He gets to choose the likes of her, we get no say.
Lies and deception have always been right wing methodology.
Thats how we were conned back in 1984 by that Turncoat Roger Douglas and co infiltrating the Labour party.
We were conned and now the country is almost on its knees and the neo liberals are having a field day putting the boot into its carcass.
Luxon is too much of a weakling to do anything about it. He just oozes intellectual and moral flab.
That’s fantastic AB. ‘Oozes intellectual and moral flab’.
I can see it!
The standard of descriptive writing has improved immensely on this blog.
I’ve learnt a lot, thanks to all of you witty people.
I do understand that a strong legal prosecution of the Minister can be made on the basis of deliberate and wilful deception by a Minister to Cabinet. At the very least a complaint must be made to the Parliamentary Privileges Committee for breach of Cabinet Code of Conduct.
she was never elected she coat tailed on winstons dirty arse
Ain’t no party like a clusterfuxon party y’all!!!