New Zealand’s plans for world-leading anti-smoking laws will be scrapped, Christopher Luxon has confirmed after being sworn in as prime minister, in what is being described as a “huge win for the tobacco industry”, reports RTE.
The former Luxon Airline boss took over six weeks after her conservative National Party won the national election, ending six years of Labor rule that began under Jacinda Ardern.
Mr Luxon (53) was sworn in as the head of the new coalition government by New Zealand’s governor-general at a ceremony in the capital, Wellington.
“It is an honour and an awesome responsibility,” Mr Luxon told reporters, reports RTE.
The Conservatives said he would prioritize containing inflation and lowering interest rates and confirmed he would end the so-called “generational smoking ban” passed last year, which bans the sale of tobacco to anyone born after 2008.
“This is a major loss for public health, and a huge win for the tobacco industry, whose profits will be boosted at the expense of Kiwi lives,” the Health Coalition Aotearoa – the Maori name for New Zealand – said in a statement, reports RTE.
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