Smokefree laws: Bishop fact-checked on PM's Northland store claim

The new Government has been fact-checked over Prime Minister Christopher Luxon's claim that there would only be one tobacco retailer in the whole of Northland under Labour's scrapped smokefree law changes.

Senior minister Chris Bishop spoke to Q+A this morning where he was questioned about the outcry over the new Government's plan to scrap Labour's changes.

When asked, Bishop said he didn't believe Labour's changes would have saved lives.

"No, I think the evidence is not there on that. The changes are highly speculative, and were actually opposed by some people in the anti-smoking movement."

Bishop then gave an example that was also cited by the Luxon earlier this week — that the Northland region would only have one store under the law changes.

The PM said at his first post-Cabinet media conference: "We think it's wrong for example to have a single store in Northland as a target for crime and for ram raids and for gangs and to ultimately drive for a bigger black market."

But there's an issue with the Prime Minister's claim. It's not true.

In September, a list published by the Health Ministry indicated there would be 35 tobacco retailers in the Northland region with about 600 nationwide.

When asked to respond to the figures, Bishop said he hadn't seen the list.

"My understanding is there'll be one store in Northland, and a significantly reduced number around the country and lots of other parts of the country would have just one or two potential stores."

When further challenged, he said: "I don't know how much further we can take this. My understanding is there's just one available in Northland."

In a tweet, former health minister and Labour's health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall weighed in on the Q+A interview. She wrote: "Why can’t the government debate the facts of the matter when it comes to smokefree?"

Earlier this week, Luxon said he still expected smoking rates to come down over the next three years of his government.

Bishop said today: "New Zealand smoking rates have been on the decline since the last National-led government.

He continued: "Our smoking rates have been declining, and we want them to continue to decline as well. We just don't think a limited number of stores and the other measures that the government has proposed are the right way to go about doing that."

The former Labour government's world-first law changes - intended to improve public health - were scrapped to fund tax cuts National promised during the election campaign.

Health experts have been scornful of the move with some estimates that the reforms would have saved lives and saved billions in health system spending in the long run.

But the new Government has rejected the criticism — saying that Labour's changes would have been ineffective and costly. Both National and ACT rejected the law changes when they were first introduced to Parliament earlier this year.