Tala Pasifika Director Lealailepule Edward Cowley is calling on MPs to support the second reading of the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products (Smoked Tobacco) Amendment Bill in its entirety.
This new legislation recognises people who smoke coupled with support measures to help them to stop smoking. “The three key components of reducing nicotine levels in tobacco products, reducing tobacco availability, and ratcheting up the legal age to access tobacco all complement each other and must be introduced together to form a dedicated pathway to reach our Government Smokefree Aotearoa goal of less than five percent prevalence for all populations living in Aotearoa,” says Lealailepule
The key findings in the Annual NZ Health Survey 2022 showed a welcome decline for all ethnic groups except Pacific people with (18.2%). Lealailepule says, “This should send warning signals to our lawmakers that the current framework to achieve a Smokefree by 2025 requires this injection of new legislative change, to support more Pasifika people to stop smoking successfully, alongside our populations in Aotearoa who are closer to our Smokefree 2025 goal.
Lealailepule says, ”our Pacific communities know only too well the inequities caused by tobacco use and that achieving a Smokefree 2025 for our Pasifika communities will not be a reality unless this critical legislation is supported for all New Zealanders to live lives free from the ongoing addiction of a product that used as intended kills fifty percent of its users.
We respectfully demand our MPs to be on the side of positive progressive change at this time in history to maximise every possible effort as we move closer to our goal of a Smokefree Aotearoa by 2025 for all New Zealanders,” adds Lealailepule.
