JOINT MEDIA RELEASE
TRANS-TASMAN REPORT CALLS FOR LIFE-SAVING REFORMS TO HELP SMOKERS QUIT
28 NOVEMBER 2016
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
The New Zealand Taxpayers' Union, Australian Taxpayers’ Alliance and MyChoice Australia have jointly launched a report calling for the governments on both sides of the Tasman to legalise, and lightly
regulate new technologies to help smokers quit.
The report, E-cigarettes: Reducing the Harm of Smoking, is available to view and download from http://taxpayers.org.nz/e-cigs_report.
“E-cigarettes provide a healthier alternative to traditional cigarettes and mean smokers are not forced to be the
Government’s cash cows” said Jordan Williams, Executive Director of the Taxpayers’ Union. “While the New Zealand Government is well ahead of Australia in terms of moves to legalise the technology, suggestions
that it should be taxed like traditional cigarettes would undermine the very benefits the new technologies offer."
“These products offer the only real pathway to the Government’s aspiration of a Smokefree New Zealand by 2025. If
governments tax next-generation smoking technologies like they do traditional cigarettes, they will be effectively
choosing the tax revenue over saving lives."
Lara Jeffery, Director of MyChoice Australia, said “The evidence is overwhelming: vaping technologies will save millions
of lives.”
“Millions of smokers worldwide have quit smoking because of this technology, and it is now the most popular way for
smokers to quit in countries such as the United Kingdom. Public health experts worldwide have praised it as being 'at
least 95 percent' safer than smoking. It is time for our regulations to catch up to the times and encourage this life
saving technology” concluded Ms Jeffery.
ENDS