6499 (2024). Hon Dr Ayesha Verrall to the Associate Minister of Health

6499 (2024). Hon Dr Ayesha Verrall to the Associate Minister of Health: What conversations, if any, did she have with colleagues regarding advice from officials, which reads: “Early estimates of the combined package of the amended Smokefree Act’s smoked tobacco changes predicted savings to health expenditure of $5.25 billion, and increased productivity of $5.88 billion over the lifetime of the New Zealand population alive in 2020?”

Hon Casey Costello: Everyone knows that stopping people smoking generates economic value. That’s why this government is committed to delivering a smoke free New Zealand. My concerns with the values presented centred on the out-of-date data used and lack of any consideration around the negative externalities that would have been created under the prohibitionist regime put in place by the previous government.