Casey Costello says she does not know who wrote, or how she even got, a politically charged document about tobacco policy which she sent to health officials with instructions. Photo: RNZ
A politically charged document arguing for tobacco tax cuts was sent to health officials by a NZ First minister - even though she says she has no idea who wrote it or how it ended up in her office.
In December 2023, Associate Health Minister Casey Costello gave health officials the document which claimed "nicotine is as harmful as caffeine" and argued Labour's smokefree generation policy was "nanny state nonsense".
Earlier this year, Costello denied the document existed. Now, she has released it with parts redacted even though she says she does not know who wrote it.
Author of documents pushing for tobacco tax cuts remains a mystery says Costello
Costello has consistently said she has had nothing to do with the tobacco industry.
Labour's health spokeswoman, Ayesha Verrall, said Costello's actions gave the opposite impression.
"Surely a bit of transparency would help the minister. But instead, she's hidden documents, claimed not to know where they came from, [and] misrepresented them in Parliament. That's not the behaviour of a minister who has got nothing to hide."
The document that wasn't, until it was
In December 2023, RNZ asked the newly appointed minister Costello to release all documents relating to tobacco and vaping policy under the Official Information Act. She refused to hand over any information at all.
RNZ had been leaked a document on tobacco policy that her office had sent to health officials which was highly political in tone and content. It described the previous Labour government's smokefree policies as "ideological nonsense that no other country had been stupid enough to implement" and said New Zealanders were "guinea pigs in their radical policy experiment".
In February, Verrall asked in a written parliamentary question who wrote the document, and Costello responded: "There was no specific document written. A range of information was provided to officials, including material like Hansard reports, the Coalition Agreement and previous NZ First policy positions."
RNZ sought an investigation by the Chief Ombudsman who ruled Costello had acted "contrary to law" in withholding the information and forced her to apologise and release the documents.
Costello now acknowledges the document existed but says she does not know who wrote it - only that the author does not work in her office.
"The document you have referred to was not generated or collated by any members of my office and was only received as a hard copy on December 6," she wrote in response to RNZ's OIA request.
She said she still did not know who wrote the document or even who gave it to her.
RNZ also asked Costello whether she could rule out tobacco industry involvement in the mystery document if she did not know its author, and also why she would give a document to officials without knowing its origin.
She did not address specific questions but said she had no links to the tobacco industry and no involvement with it.
Verrall said that given the significance of the document, it was implausible Costello did not know its origin.
"I don't think it's the sort of thing that you can credibly say you don't know where it came from," she said.
"This lady's past career was as a detective. I don't see how the New Zealand public can reasonably be expected to believe something as tenuous as that."
Photo: RNZ
What Costello hid from the public in the mystery document
While Costello released the document with parts of it hidden, RNZ has the original, unredacted document and so can compare the versions.
The redactions in the documents released under the OIA by Costello included censoring all the material pushing for tobacco tax cuts and the claims that nicotine is no more harmful than caffeine and that the last government's policy was "nanny state nonsense".
It argued strongly for tax cuts for Heated Tobacco Products - although this too was redacted.
"Smokeless tobacco is a vaping product, it does not combust and should not be taxed like combustible cigarettes, but instead like other vaping products that are not subject to excise," the original document said.
"Giving up smoking should also mean giving up paying huge excise taxes. Excise tax is a tool to discourage use, we want to encourage smokers to use these products and one of the best ways to do that is to make it cheaper than cigarettes."
Costello recently cut the excise tax on HTPs by 50 percent and set aside a contingency fund of $216 million to cover the tobacco tax cuts.
She did this despite health officials saying there was no strong evidence either that they worked as a smoking cessation tool or that they were significantly safer than cigarettes.
Ministers have to cite specific grounds for withholding information. Costello said redactions were made under a clause of the OIA which protects the "confidentiality of advice tendered by Ministers of the Crown and officials".
Costello's office did not address questions from RNZ about how she could use this clause if she did not know who wrote the document.