Casey Costello: Associate Minister of Health on the new Health NZ action plan to reduce smoking rates

There’s been a change in approach in a bid to secure Smoke-Free 2025. 

Minister-in-Charge, Casey Costello's unveiled a refreshed Health New Zealand action plan. 

It includes no new funding or programmes, with the existing $24 million budget being reallocated to the frontline.  

Costello told Mike Hosking the Government's tried to pare back the programme to practical applications and tools for those wanting to quit. 

She says it's about informing and leading people to available services, rather than the previous prohibitionist approach. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
We got action. We've got an action plan of sorts
given next year it is supposed to be the year we
arrive as a smoke free country. So here's what we
got yesterday. Get smokers to try and quit, give it
another try if it's previously failed, and prove access to
quit smoking providers, provide effective services and products, stop people
from smoking in the first place. Anyway, that's all the
work of Associate Health Minister Casey Costello, who's with us.

Speaker 2 (00:19):
Good morning, Good morning mine.

Speaker 1 (00:20):
The very general sense, is there too much reliance in
this whole smoke free thing? Is there too much reliance
on the government wiping our bum and solving all our
problems or not? Do you think?

Speaker 2 (00:30):
I think that's what we've tried to do is step
it back to some practical application to those who want
to quit, and informing people of the services that are
available and leading people rather than the prohibitionist approach that
we had before.

Speaker 1 (00:45):
Because you're getting killed by the wonks who say you're
not doing enough. How much more can you do if
a person wants to smoke? What literally short of tying
them up and locking them in a room, can you do? Well?

Speaker 2 (00:57):
I think that's the perspective is that smoke free target
would always just to get below five percent, recognizing that
there will always be those that are long term addictive
smokers that have made their choices and want to but
about presenting support that those that we think need to
know there's some opportunity to help if they need it,
and connecting them with those services.

Speaker 1 (01:17):
And so you would argue, as we sit here this morning,
if you are a person who wants to look at
giving up smoking, there is plenty there to help you
along the way, and you've done what you can, absolutely.

Speaker 2 (01:29):
And that was where I focused on and I've said
all the way along as the frontline workers that are
delivering quick smoking services knew what was working, knew what
needed to be done. And there's a lot of people
who've tried to quit and just failed and kind of
given up like they want to, but that's got them
in their grips. So what we're saying is like there
is you know, we're going to look at ecomers and

(01:52):
vacing statu kits and things like that. They will give
them that one more chance to just given another crack,
and there's real benefits to it.

Speaker 1 (01:59):
If you what you did walk away from was what
the British are doing right now, and that is the
age limit thing. In other words, you will not be
able to add a certain birth date. Over time, they
will solve that problem. Do you regret walking away from that?
Could that long term have been something more effective than
what you've actually done.

Speaker 2 (02:14):
No, And that was what lost in this conversation. You know,
the Late Health Survey, which was measuring up to thirty
Jane fifteen to seventeen year olds less than one percent smoking,
under twenty four year olds four point two percent smoking.
So we already have, through what we've been doing, a
generation that isn't smoking, and we knew that.

Speaker 1 (02:34):
Well, that's true the whole that's true. But the number
you cite is smoking, not vaping. Vaping's replaced smoking, as
you well know. Are we going to be talking about
this in ten years and having a vape free community
by twenty thirty five or forty five or whatever.

Speaker 2 (02:47):
And this is where this issue's got conflated. You know,
the Loyal College of position that vaping is about five
percent of the level of harm of smoking, considerably less,
not just a little bit less, considerably less. Nicotine addiction
is a problem, and we need to work through that.
But from a harm perspective, this thing that was killing people,
it's such high rates and such an adverse health. A

(03:10):
pet vaping does not present that level of risk, and
that was the proportional discussion around risk proportion.

Speaker 1 (03:16):
I followed you with a great deal of interest in
the house, particularly at question time. You've taken a tremendous
amount of heat from the opposition. How has that been
as an experience as a new MP slash minister?

Speaker 2 (03:27):
Well, I kind of always like in the house to
being giving evidence when you're in the police. You know,
you know your facts, you stick to your point. You Yes,
they'll try and rastle you. But I had never done
anything wrong in this space. I knew that. And eventually
it was disappointing because of all the things that are
going on and all the portfolios I've got, this was
just a tiny portion of work, and yet sort of

(03:50):
got you know, I think I got my first question
that wasn't related to smoking after a year, you know,
in the house, and I've got customs serious or when
I was crime, I've got, you know, all the other
health portfolios and this one kind of distracted everybody. But
I think, you know, it's come into a good place
and you just navigate the storm.

Speaker 1 (04:09):
Approject time. Associate Health Minister Casey Costello for more from
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