Rowan Pike

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55 appearances 1 recordings 1 series first heard Jul 2026 last heard 7 Jul

Rowan Pike’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.

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Recordings per month over the last 12 months — 1 in all, peaking in Jul 2026 with 1.

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The Detail · Beating back the illicit tobacco trade · 7 Jul 2026 podcast

And those people didn't want to give up immediately.

The policy obviously is based on a fallacy that people will either quit or pay the tax.

But unfortunately, it doesn't really recognise that there's a third opportunity and option, which is the illicit market.

And that undermines the entire tobacco control strategy.

New Zealand's done extremely well and you should be commended on your strategies and getting your smoking rate down.

I think it's down to 6.8%.

And you were well on track for some years to get to your ultimate objective of smoke-free 2025, which is a goal of 5%.

And there's only one country in the world that's actually achieved that so far.

Sweden, in case you were wondering.

New Zealand got down to 6.8% three years ago.

Unfortunately, since then, that figure has flatlined.

So you're still at 6.8%.

And I would argue that the reason for that is the rise in the licit rate.

So the price is not acting as a disincentive.

It's not acting as it was intended to dissuade people from smoking.

Now, because there is that third easily available alternative and people don't have to give up, don't have to quit when they're able to smoke very cheap cigarettes.

So that is a problem that's undermining your goals and objectives.

You were well on track.

And now it's just hit a slight hurdle that needs to be corrected.

And of course, New Zealand had their great success because you have embraced vaping over there.

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