Australia Is Drowning While Looking Away From New Zealand's Lifeboat

Monday, 26 January 2026, 8:33 am
Press Release: CAPHRA

As Canberra Spends Millions on Enforcement, a Neighbouring Nation Proves Harm Reduction Works

The contrast could not be starker. New Zealand's pragmatic approach to tobacco harm reduction has driven adult daily smoking to 6.8 percent - one of the lowest rates globally - whilst Australia's prohibitionist stance has created a A$4 billion illicit market, over 200 fire-bombings, gang warfare, and mounting casualties among innocent civilians.

Yet Australia continues to respond with millions in enforcement spending rather than looking across the Tasman to learn from its neighbour's success.

The Coalition of Asia Pacific Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates (CAPHRA) says this is a policy failure masquerading as action.

"Australia has spent A$157 million on enforcement, appointed an illicit tobacco czar, expanded police resources, and deployed thousands of investigators," said Nancy Loucas, CAPHRA executive coordinator.

"Meanwhile, gangs restock shops ten times a day, arson attacks continue, and innocent people are dying. This is the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff - expensive, reactive, and fundamentally useless."

The numbers expose the absurdity. Australia lost an estimated A$6.7 billion in excise revenue in 2023–24 alone. Over 100 properties have been firebombed in Victoria since 2023. Twenty-seven-year-old Katie Tangey was killed in what authorities believe was a mistaken-identity arson linked to the tobacco trade. Gang members now extort small tobacconists, force proprietors to stock illegal products, and exact protection money under threat of violence.

In contrast, New Zealand's harm reduction framework - which includes regulated access to vaping products alongside smoking cessation support - has achieved what Australia's enforcement apparatus cannot: it has given smokers a viable legal exit from cigarettes.

Youth smoking in New Zealand now stands at 3.2 percent, down from 19.2 percent a decade ago. No arson. No gang turf wars. No innocent bystanders killed.

"New Zealand proves that when you meet people where they are, give them regulated alternatives, and maintain proper age controls, you eliminate the black market's raison d'être," said Loucas.

"Australia can continue throwing money at enforcement whilst organised crime adapts faster than police can respond, or it can do what works: legalise, regulate, and take the wind out of the criminal sail."

CAPHRA submitted evidence to Australia's Senate inquiry in January, directly comparing New Zealand and the Philippines - both with regulated vaping markets and declining smoking rates – to India and Thailand, where total bans have created underground markets with zero safeguards and rampant youth access.

"The choice is not complicated," Loucas added. "Australia can keep spending millions on an approach that is failing, or it can follow New Zealand's example and actually reduce smoking rates, eliminate the illicit market, and protect its communities. The evidence is right next door."

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