NZ PLANS TO LIFT BAN ON SELLING CIGARETTES TO CHILDREN AGED 14, BELOW

Thu 30 October 2023:

On Wednesday, the New Zealand government confirmed its 49-point agenda for the first 100 days, which includes removing the restriction on selling cigarettes under the age of 14, and outlawing cell phones in classrooms.

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon affirmed his 49-point action plan at his Cabinet meeting on Wednesday, calling it “ambitious for New Zealand,” according to state-run media.

According to Radio New Zealand, Luxon announced that his coalition government will undo the changes made to the “Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products Act 1990 and regulations.”

His administration will also implement school reforms, such as a ban on cell phone use.

In December last year, New Zealand’s previous parliament passed legislation banning the sale of tobacco to anyone aged 14 or below, a significant step towards the country’s goal of becoming smoke-free by 2025.

The law, which was first proposed in July of last year, prohibits the sale of any tobacco product to anyone born after Jan. 1, 2009. The law took effect earlier in January this year.

“New Zealanders voted not only for a change of government but for a change of policies and a change of approach – and our Coalition Government is ready to deliver that change,” Premier Luxon said on X.

He added that his government will introduce legislation to reform the Reserve Bank with a single mandate of price stability in order to reduce inflation.

“We will be introducing legislation to ban gang patches and stop gang members gathering in public, and be giving Police greater powers to search gang members for firearms and making gang membership an aggravating factor at sentencing,” he said.

Luxon, the National Party’s leader, is leading a three-party coalition with New Zealand First and ACT New Zealand.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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