Source: Health Coalition Aotearoa
Labour announced it would restore smokefree generation policies and a licensing regime for tobacco and vapes at Health Coalition Aotearoa’s (HCA) political panel on prevention.
Act, the Greens, Labour and Te Pati Māori health spokespeople addressed a strong showing of attendees at the Beehive forum on 25 August, hosted by HCA, the University of Otago and the Public Health Communications Centre.
Labour’s Ayesha Verrall also said the party would reverse the heated tobacco tax cut, “a tax break worth hundreds of millions of dollars.”
The politicians were responding to policy asks in HCA’s Prevention Brief 2026, which are evidence-based policy priorities to tackle harm from tobacco, alcohol and unhealthy food, saving lives and reducing pressure on the health system.
“We were disappointed that National and New Zealand First chose not to attend and tell voters where they stand. We had hoped for a cross-party discussion,” said HCA co-chair Professor Boyd Swinburn.
Act’s Todd Stevenson kicked off the discussion talking about the party’s commitment to increasing Pharmac’s budget, which would cover innovative vaccines, such as for RSV, and widened access to shingles vaccines, plus other preventive medicines.
In closing remarks, Swinburn quipped, “I've got some really cost-effective policies for you, more cost-effective than Pharmac funding of drugs.”
However, there was common ground across the parties on HCA’s campaign to ‘level the playing field’ with Stevenson saying he “wasn’t opposed’ to lobbying policies, albeit with technical details ironed out.
Greens and Te Pati Māori agreed on the need for a lobbying register and a cool-down period for politicians before they could work as lobbyists, as well as caps on party donations.
Verrall said Labour was yet to announce its policy but they wanted transparency around lobbyists’ meetings with ministers, plus she had a bill in the biscuit tin to restrict tobacco lobbying.
Green Party’s Hūhana Lyndon said HCA’s policies “act as a compass for where the country should be heading”.
On the left, there was shared support for restoration of healthy school lunches to meet nutrition standards and with provision for community providers.
Verrall pointed out Labour started Ka Ora, Ka Ako and is proud to recommit to the programme, which is a significant spend on making sure people have healthy food.
The Green’s Hūhana Lyndon spoke about the party’s recently announced policy supporting Ka Ora, Ka Ako in a form closer to the original version.
“The Green Party wants to see the programme well-resourced, sustainable and expanded, so that no mokopuna will be left behind.”
Te Pati Māori’s Debbie Ngarewa-Packer was also in agreement with HCA’s policies, emphasising the importance of Māori self-determination and mana motuhake. Her party fully supports Ka Ora Ka Ako.
“We believe that no tamariki should ever go hungry at school, so we oppose the government's defunding of the Ka Ora, Ka Ako programme, and we support permanent funding.
“Again, we support restricting unhealthy kai and drink and marketing that targets children.”
Stevenson gave some parting advice, which was for public health advocates to start working with the new government from the minute they came into office.
“My advice is start early in the next parliament and try to look for things that you actually think people could agree on and get bipartisan support for a few issues.”
So, while the political parties defined prevention differently, all agreed it was important.
“Our focus now is working with all parties towards our prevention policy priorities,” says Swinburn. “We would welcome the opportunity to brief National and New Zealand First on them directly.”