Live politics blog 28 Nov

The Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners says it is astounded with the new government's plans to repeal anti-smoking laws - some of the toughest in the world - which banned young people from ever being able to purchase tobacco in their lifetime in efforts to make the country smoke-free.

The smokefree legislation banned tobacco sales to a generation, lowered the nicotine level in all tobacco products and drastically reduced number of places that can sell them. Smoking is the largest cause of preventable death and disease in Aotearoa and kills around 5,000 people every year, while the legislation was passed in December. 

College president Dr Samantha Murton said she has seen "far too many" patients dying early as a result of tobacco-related illness and disease. 

"We are astounded as to how you could repeal something that has been so widely supported and would prevent the deaths of so many," she said. 
College medical director Dr Luke Bradford said the changes were "appalling" and undo many good years of work. 

"When there is worldwide evidence about the harm and addictive nature of this activity, this is the exact opposite of good governance of our healthcare system," he added.