With the first reading of a new bill in parliament today, Aotearoa New Zealand’s plan to be smokefree by 2025 takes another tangible step forward.

The Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products (Smoked Tobacco) Amendment Bill will go to the Health Select Committee for submissions and review, and return to the House in late 2022 to be passed into law.

Assuming the final legislation looks similar to what is being proposed, it will mean Aotearoa New Zealand leapfrogs all other countries to be at the vanguard of tobacco control.

Dr Hester Wilson, from the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, told Gareth Parker on 6PR Breakfast the policy settings aimed at getting smoking prevalence beneath 5 per cent of the adult population within years.

LISTEN 👇 to his chat with Gareth on Breakfast