We have previously reported on Associate Health Minister Casey Costello’s links to the Atlas Network and her links to the tobacco industry. Recently she was accused of implementing tobacco industry talking points as policy by her own officials.
Now Newsroom is reporting Casey Costello left a crucial benefit analysis out of her paper to cabinet in February when proposing sweeping reform of NZ’s Smokefree legislation.
In a section outlining the “financial implications” of repealing the reforms, Costello’s Cabinet paper only discussed the costs of reimbursing retailers who had applied for special permits under the old regime and the potential for $1.5 billion in additional revenue from tobacco excise over four years. However, the December 6 briefing contained more information about the economic benefits of the scheme in its own “financial implications” section.
Early estimates had suggested New Zealand might save $5.25b in health costs and $5.88b in increased productivity over the lifetime of the population alive in 2020, officials told Costello.
More recent independent analysis, published in November 2023, found a $17b loss to government out to 2050 from reduced excise revenue and increased superannuation costs from people living longer would be more than offset by a $46b economic benefit over the same period, the briefing said. “The new estimates find the smoked tobacco measures are likely to result in large economic benefits for the total population.”
New Zealand will be missing out on potentially $46 billion of benefits had we retained the Smokefree legislation. At the time of writing Costello seems to have suffered no consequences for misleading her cabinet colleagues, or the nation.