1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:02,360 Speaker 1: There seems to be increasing reportage. I don't know if 2 00:00:02,400 --> 00:00:05,600 Speaker 1: you've noticed, based around some new research that our dream 3 00:00:06,200 --> 00:00:08,319 Speaker 1: of being smoke freeze up and smoke as it turns 4 00:00:08,360 --> 00:00:09,879 Speaker 1: out now this is the year. If you didn't realize 5 00:00:09,880 --> 00:00:13,080 Speaker 1: twenty twenty five, when we were aiming to be smoke 6 00:00:13,119 --> 00:00:15,080 Speaker 1: free by smoke free, it would have been reduced to 7 00:00:15,200 --> 00:00:17,439 Speaker 1: five percent left smoking. Now to meet that goal, the 8 00:00:17,480 --> 00:00:20,680 Speaker 1: research says about eighty thousand more people need to quit, 9 00:00:20,880 --> 00:00:22,959 Speaker 1: and they won't, of course, and as always, the fact 10 00:00:22,960 --> 00:00:25,400 Speaker 1: they haven't or won't is somehow the government's fault, who 11 00:00:25,400 --> 00:00:28,120 Speaker 1: haven't done enough or worse, this particular government who they 12 00:00:28,120 --> 00:00:30,319 Speaker 1: say have been shocking led by New Zealand first and 13 00:00:30,360 --> 00:00:32,760 Speaker 1: Casey Costello, who is a devil who's in the pocket 14 00:00:32,760 --> 00:00:35,760 Speaker 1: of tobacco or some such gibberish that people like the 15 00:00:35,800 --> 00:00:37,839 Speaker 1: Labour Party spent a lot of time trying to suggest. 16 00:00:38,000 --> 00:00:41,600 Speaker 1: Where it went wrong was twofold. One was the belief, 17 00:00:41,680 --> 00:00:44,320 Speaker 1: and this was classic Labor under Helen Clark, that you 18 00:00:44,360 --> 00:00:47,159 Speaker 1: could force people to do something they didn't want to 19 00:00:47,440 --> 00:00:49,960 Speaker 1: and there were always going to be people who didn't 20 00:00:49,960 --> 00:00:52,800 Speaker 1: want to. Where it worked, and we can be grateful, 21 00:00:52,880 --> 00:00:54,319 Speaker 1: was in the public space part of it. I mean, 22 00:00:54,320 --> 00:00:56,320 Speaker 1: no longer are you forced to inhale if you don't 23 00:00:56,320 --> 00:00:58,120 Speaker 1: want to, We'll smell like a smoker, or stand in 24 00:00:58,160 --> 00:00:59,720 Speaker 1: a group will be trapped by it. But beyond that, 25 00:01:00,240 --> 00:01:03,080 Speaker 1: once the hard cores were on the footpath, some were 26 00:01:03,120 --> 00:01:07,160 Speaker 1: never going to give up. Secondly, vaping a shocking miscalculation 27 00:01:07,600 --> 00:01:10,000 Speaker 1: that it was a cessation tool when what it really 28 00:01:10,120 --> 00:01:12,720 Speaker 1: was was a gateway for kits, a whole new generation 29 00:01:13,080 --> 00:01:15,240 Speaker 1: who got easy access, and the slippery slope was never 30 00:01:15,280 --> 00:01:17,360 Speaker 1: going to get stopped. Governments could have nipped it in 31 00:01:17,360 --> 00:01:19,520 Speaker 1: the butt, of course, but didn't. Could have made vapes 32 00:01:19,520 --> 00:01:22,479 Speaker 1: script only like Australia, but didn't. The Labour Party under 33 00:01:22,520 --> 00:01:26,760 Speaker 1: Asha Verril, a medical professional from the party who invented 34 00:01:26,800 --> 00:01:30,240 Speaker 1: smoke Free before they left office, hurled their best wet 35 00:01:30,319 --> 00:01:33,360 Speaker 1: bus ticket at the vaping market, so basically did nothing. 36 00:01:33,959 --> 00:01:36,520 Speaker 1: So the history will show out of the gates Clark's 37 00:01:36,520 --> 00:01:39,840 Speaker 1: style with gusto early progress on public spaces and general 38 00:01:40,040 --> 00:01:42,800 Speaker 1: change and attitude to the habit, followed by the predictable 39 00:01:42,840 --> 00:01:46,440 Speaker 1: malaise and hard core resistance, leaving us twenty five years 40 00:01:46,440 --> 00:01:49,200 Speaker 1: on with a change in society, but well short of 41 00:01:49,200 --> 00:01:53,280 Speaker 1: what was envisaged. Good Crack failed on the follow through. Personally, 42 00:01:53,720 --> 00:01:56,320 Speaker 1: I'd give it seven out of ten. For more from 43 00:01:56,360 --> 00:01:59,760 Speaker 1: the Mic Asking Breakfast, listen live to newstalksa'd Be from 44 00:02:00,160 --> 00:02:03,360 Speaker 1: x AM weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.