The Government has stepped in after it was revealed police have intentionally not been enforcing a law banning smoking and vaping in cars carrying children . NZME can reveal not a single fine has been issued since the law came into force in 2021, with police saying fines are punitive and unlikely to work. It can also be revealed police never carried out the necessary system upgrades to issue fines, despite Parliament delaying the law coming into force for 18 months to allow for the updates.
The law was passed by the Labour-led coalition in 2020 with support from National. It allowed officers to use their discretion to issue $50 spot fines. An Official Information Act request revealed 185 warnings have been issued since November 2021, but no fines.
Police said this was because they were focused on a “health-first” approach and never updated their systems to allow fines to be issued..
