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Spotlight on: Saini Semini and Gloria Onelino
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 In a recent hui with the Counties Manukau smokefree team, we were struck by their enthusiasm and passion for our kaupapa. With this, we wanted to interview one of their ‘newcomers’, Saini Semisi, for whakawhanaungatanga, and her team mate, Gloria Onelino, who brings with her a wealth of knowledge and experience to her role.
It’s always really exciting to welcome new colleagues to our smokefree whānau, full of passion and ideas, working alongside those who have the experience and insight. We’re excited to see where the Counties team goes this year, and how the skills and talents of Gloria and Saini are utilised.
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"We build relationships with everyone we interact with. Build trust and get to know people, but overall just treating people the way we would like to be treated ourselves, with respect."
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Highlight of the month - February
Again it has been a busy month for us all. One of the many highlights for our team was having the pleasure of meeting the Tairawhiti - Gisborne Taki Tahi Toa Mano Tairāwhiti Smokefree Coalition. A special thank you to Aporina Chapman – Senior Health Promoter for not only organising whānau from Kaiti to participate in the focus group but also opening her home to Mihi for the night. Really appreciate your manaaki and aroha.
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Local councils nationwide taking action over smokefree policies
Over the last month, Hāpai have been busy contributing to the momentum that will see more councils extend their smokefree policies to beaches. We presented to Wellington council who after listening to our presentation, unanimously voted in full support of a policy change that will see smoking disappear on their beaches and various parts of their CBD. We advocated that this smokefree policy will do much more than ensure our physical health, it will also contribute towards our environmental protection responsibility. Camden Howitt from Sustainability Coastlines shared in a recent article we published, “There are more cigarette butts in the ocean than plastic straws. If you don’t wanna stop smoking for you, your whānau, do it for our moana”.
The importance of these types of policies are affirmed by Māori environmental advocate, Tina Ngata, who shares our view in centralising physical and environmental health initiatives within te Ao Māori: “Māori ways of seeing and doing have huge potential to make change because in essence, it is about relationships and connections to ourselves and our world. This is a perspective we all must take on, particularly the tobacco industry, because their level of contribution to solutions must be relative to the harm they are causing. We wouldn’t be having this conversation if there wasn’t a tobacco industry presence in Aotearoa.” Such a perspective is timely given tobacco organisation, Phillip Morris’ recent claim to want to stop selling cigarettes in New Zealand if granted tax breaks. We remain just as sceptical as the Prime Minister on this claim, but it reaffirms our need to remain united and work together on such an important kaupapa.
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Wellington city beaches to become smoke-free
Wellington City Council has voted to make the capital's beaches smoke-free, but councillors will discuss what to do about vapers later this month.
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Tax breaks for smokeless Tobacco sticks “out of order” – Cancer Society
A Tobacco giant says it wants a tax break for its smokeless tobacco sticks which it claims are less harmful to consumers. But the Cancer Society says this is out of order if the product's nicotine levels remain the same and just as addictive.
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Toki Rau Stop Smoking Services – Officially Launch Video 3 – STINK Campaign
The STINK campaign aims to use humour in everyday situations where ‘comical accidents’ may happen that would evoke an “Awww Stink!” reaction. Four 30-second videos will be released throughout the 6-month online campaign. Filmed by Big Fish Creative in Whangarei, the ads reflect a laid-back style, using local actors to represent everyday Northlanders, in everyday situations that maybe common among our whānau who smoke. We wanted to produce something with a nod to Taika Waititi’s humour, that Tai Tokerau whānau could relate to and would raise awareness of our stop smoking services.
Big tobacco’s call for tax break for tobacco stick ‘unhelpful’ PR stunt
New Zealand should not be targeted as a ‘guinea pig’ for ‘heat not burn’ tobacco products, says tobacco control advocate Mihi Blair in response to Philip Morris’ call for a Kiwi tax break for its tobacco stick.
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Wellington smokefree plan should not include vaping - advocate
Mihi Blair from Hāpai Te Hauora thinks the ban shouldn't include vaping. "We're quite concerned that they've included this in the smokefree areas, and we're just hoping that the council will follow Auckland Council and actually allow vaping in their public areas."
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HPA’s Stop Before You Start back on air
Te Hiringa Hauora The Health Promotion Agency is running the Stop Before You Start campaign over the months of March and April. The media will be a mix of television - TVNZ2, three, Bravo, Duke, Edge TV, Māori TV, Viceland, MTV. Radio - Mai FM, Flava, Nui FM. Cinema, Social - Snapchat, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, Ondemand TV, Spotify. New for this round of advertising is placement of ads on the back of buses through targeted routes. By the time we finish this activity, this creative will be almost two years old. Given the nature of young people and how quickly things change for them in terms of media consumption and their tastes, HPA plans to re-visit this strategy and consider what comes next.
Click here to learn more about Stop Before You Start.
Think Capital Gains Tax is expensive? Try smoking
In spite of its apparent hefty rates, many eligible property owners would pay less capital gains tax per year than pack-a-day smokers,
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Bay of Plenty Smokefree Outdoor policy updates
Congratulations to Ōpōtiki District Council who have recently updated their smokefree outdoor spaces policy to include:
- All parks, playgrounds, sportsgrounds and reserves
- Beaches
- CBD/Civic spaces
- All entrances to Council owned buildings
- Events funded or supported by Ōpōtiki Council
Toi Te Ora supported the council with community consultations which showed good support for the extension of the policy by smokers and non-smokers alike. Check out their policy by clicking here.
They have also completed an evaluation compliance to the Rotorua Lakes Council Policy focusing on Eat Streat and bus stops at 6 months and 12months after the updated policy was implemented. This found an overall compliance of 97% at 6 months, and 99.5% at 12 months. Rotorua Lakes Councils policy was completely implemented in January 2018, and includes:
- All playgrounds, parks, reserves, and sportsgrounds and facilities
- Public toilets
- Childhood education centres
- All youth spaces and skate park
- Bus stops
- I-site
- Outdoor pavement eating spaces
- Eat Streat
- Entrances and exits to buildings used by the public
- Market
You can view their policy here:
Rotorua Lakes Council have also completed an audit of the implementation of Tauranga City Councils Smokefree outdoor spaces policy, which found over all 19.3% of smokefree spaces had signage, with the most coverage of signage at playgrounds, and no signage was found at council buildings or bus stops. Of the spaces that had signage, 63% were clearly visible with 93% in good condition. This information has been used to initiate good discussion with the Council, who are now working toward better implementation of policy. We will continue discussions with the council regarding extending the policy. Tauranga City Councils Policy includes:
- Playgrounds
- Active reserves
- Bus stops
- Grounds and carparks of council public facilities
- Council run events
- Mauao
Their policy can be seen here:
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World Smokefree Day 2019 marks start of new campaign leadership for Hāpai te Hauora and Cancer Society
We are excited about the potential for growth that will come from this new partnership, and the benefits that our communities will reap from an initiative that is whānau-focused and community driven.
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Community and smokefree sector calling on councils for smokefree beach regulations
Community members and the smokefree sector are advocating for councils to prioritise smokefree beach regulations. This call to action came to a head this week as Wellington city council stated that they are proposing to extend its smoking ban to the Grey St pedestrian area and beaches. If this proposal was approved, this would make Wellington only the seventh of 64 regional areas nationwide to have a smokefree beach ban; a figure that has both Māori communities and the smokefree sector shocked.
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Cigarette butts thrown "like apple cores" now a leading source of plastic pollution in ocean
Despite the strong efforts of people on the frontline cleaning our beaches, New Zealand's cigarettes are now the largest source of plastic waste in our ocean, with health and environmental advocates challenging communities to reflect on New Zealand’s “tidy kiwi” brand.
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Emma Espiner: When the rules are different for Māori
Emma Espiner struggles to appreciate a system that allows a dangerous highway right outside her ancestral marae, but would have completely different rules for a childcare centre, conference facility or a retirement village
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Ferrari drops big tobacco branding from name ahead of Grand Prix
Ferrari has removed controversial Philip Morris tobacco branding from its official team name ahead of the Australian Grand Prix, following a government review into the partnership.
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Quebec's top court rejects appeal of landmark $15B tobacco ruling
Quebec's Court of Appeal has upheld a Quebec Superior Court ruling in two class-action lawsuits against tobacco companies awarding billions of dollars in damages to 100,000 people
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Proposed Ordinance Banning Flavored Tobacco Scheduled For City Council Hearing
The Lafayette City Council voted unanimously Monday evening to prepare an ordinance that would ban the sale of flavoured tobacco products within city limits and establish a licensing program for tobacco retailers to allow for the ban's enforcement.
Another recent research article from Tobacco Control Journal on whether flavours should be banned in cigarettes also here .
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How big tobacco keeps cancer rates high in countries like mine
The industry has lost the battle against regulation in the west, so is desperate to prevent Bangladesh from imposing vital taxes
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Tobacco companies are using e-cigarettes as a 'Trojan Horse', experts warn
Tobacco companies are using e-cigarettes and "heat not burn" products as a “Trojan Horse” in an attempt to undermine tobacco control regulations and “rehabilitate” their image, experts have warned.
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Liberal access to e-cigarettes likely to bring health benefits, NZ study finds
New Zealand’s approach of allowing wide access to e-cigarettes is likely to be bringing overall health gains and cost savings for the health system, researchers from the University of Otago, Wellington have found. The research modelled the impact of liberalising the sales of vaporised nicotine products, such as e-cigarettes, compared to a situation where the uptake of these products was very low – as in New Zealand in 2011. The study, published in the international journal Epidemiology, found that liberalising vaping products would lead to a gain of 236,000 quality-adjusted life-years for the general population and savings of NZ$3.4 billion over the remaining lifetime of these people.
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Landmark Study Fails to Find Any Evidence that Vaping is a Gateway to Smoking among Youth
A landmark study, published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, found no evidence that vaping is a gateway to smoking among youth. The data come from the largest, longitudinal study of youth smoking initiation -- the PATH (Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health) study -- and include two waves of observations on nearly 12,000 U.S. youth.
The surveys asked numerous questions about both vaping and smoking behaviour, including the frequency of these behaviors. It also assessed numerous risk factors for smoking that can be controlled for in multivariate analyses of smoking initiation rate differences between various groups. The baseline survey was conducted in 2013/2014 and the one-year follow-up survey occurred in 2014/2015.
The main reported finding of the study was that ever use of e-cigarettes at baseline is a risk factor for ever use of cigarettes at follow-up. This is consistent with the findings of several other studies.
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Oceania Tobacco Control conference
Doltone House, Jones Bay Wharf, Sydney, Australia
22-24 October 2019 in Sydney, Australia.
Scholarships applications now open!
Through generous support from the sponsors of the Oceania Tobacco Control Conference 2019, Cancer Council NSW is offering a limited number of assistance packages for professionals, researchers and students to attend the conference.
Who can apply?
- Tobacco control must form a part of the applicant’s work.
- Applicants must reside in the Oceania region.
- Applicants must have no affiliation with the tobacco industry.
- Applicants must adhere to all terms and conditions of the Oceania Tobacco Control conference found here
- Preference will be given to applicants who:
- have submitted an abstract of a paper that they are offering to present at the conference
- reside in resource-poor settings
- work with Indigenous populations
- work in the Pacific Islands
- work with high needs populations; and/or
- work in the not-for-profit sector
- have a focus on or have the capacity to influence tobacco control policy settings
What assistance is available?
Four levels of assistance packages are available for successful applicants and will be paid by Cancer Council NSW, as follows:
- Level 1: Conference registration costs
- Level 2: Conference registration costs and hotel accommodation costs for 3 nights
- Level 3: Conference registration costs, hotel accommodation costs for 3 nights and return economy airfares
- Level 4: Conference registration costs, hotel accommodation costs for 3 nights and return economy airfares up to $250.00 towards subsistence (food, travel, etc) costs for the successful applicant while attending the conference (there are a very limited number of Level 4 assistance packages on offer).
Guidelines for scholarship submissions can be found on our Scholarships page.
How to apply
All applications must be submitted on our online portal via our Scholarships page.
Application deadline: Friday 17th May 2019, 5pm AEST
Decisions on all assistance packages will be announced by Friday 31st May 2019 and offers to the successful applicants will be made by email
If you have difficulties with submitting your application, please contact OTCC2019@nswcc.org.au
Call for abstracts: extended for another 2 weeks!
Abstracts can be submitted using our online submission portal via our Abstracts page until the closing date of Monday, 15th of April, 2019 (11.59pm AEDT).
Full submission guidelines can be found here.
If you have any difficulties with your submission, please contact us at OTCC2019@nswcc.org.au
Early bird registrations open on April 1st
For further information on registration cost please visit our website's registration page here
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Save the date for the SRNT- O Inaugural Conference!
24-25 October 2019
Doltone House, Jones Bay Wharf, Sydney, Australia
Conveniently at the same venue and immediately following the 2019 Oceania Tobacco Control Conference
On 24, 25 October 2019, the SRNT Oceania will be holding its inaugural conference in the seaside city of Sydney, Australia. Please save the date and invite your network to join us.
SRNT-Oceania conference will give Australian, New Zealand, and Pacific Islander researchers and practitioners the opportunity to share Oceania’s highest quality research and practice targeting tobacco use reduction and smoking cessation.
A call for abstracts will be opening shortly.
The SRNT-O board and conference committee look forward to welcoming you to Sydney in 2019!
Follow us on Twitter for regular conference updates o_srnt
Email: srntoceania@gmail.com
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