Latest news with #Hoek
Otago Daily Times
27-05-2025
- Health
- Otago Daily Times
Tobacco industry playbook mirrored: research
New research shows coalition government MPs "closely mirrored the tobacco industry's playbook" to back their decision to repeal New Zealand's world-leading smokefree laws. University of Otago Aspire Aotearoa co-director Prof Janet Hoek said the sudden repeal of the law showed how quickly progress could be undone when politicians ignored evidence, public opinion and expert advice. She and fellow Otago researchers released a new Public Health Communication Centre briefing yesterday, showing an analysis of arguments made by the government during the rushed February 2024 repeal of the smokefree "endgame" laws. The laws would have reduced nicotine in cigarettes to non-addictive levels, drastically cut the number of tobacco retailers, and created a smokefree generation by ending cigarette sales to people born after 2009. Prof Hoek said the repeal went against the best available evidence, against the advice of the Ministry of Health and against what most New Zealanders wanted. Researchers recently reviewed the verbatim Hansard record which showed what politicians said in the House of Representatives. They compared the contents with the Policy Dystopia Model, a framework that outlines argumentative strategies that tobacco companies use to oppose policies that restrict their marketing. "Many government arguments lacked evidence and closely mirrored the tobacco industry's playbook, such as overstating fears about illegal trade and shifting blame to individuals instead of holding tobacco companies accountable," she said. Hansard recordings from the time showed a New Zealand First Party MP saying, "Our smoking rates have fallen drastically in recent times ... If those trends continue without any additional measures, [we] will hit the headline smoke-free goal". Another showed a National Party MP saying, "We're going to be a lot less punitive ... provide [people] with more choice to help them quit". And an Act Party MP said, "... we [would] have a large illegal market putting profits in the pockets of gangs ..." if the smokefree laws continued. Opposition MPs strongly opposed the repeal, raising concerns about the lack of consultation, breaches of the Treaty of Waitangi and the likely impact on health inequities. Prof Hoek said the researchers' analysis, published yesterday in BMJ journal Tobacco Control , provided evidence from the NZ Health Survey which showed the Smokefree 2025 goal was very unlikely to be achieved, particularly for Māori. The report said returning to individually-focused measures, such as smoking cessation support, shifted responsibility for smoking from tobacco companies to people who smoked. NZ data also showed the illicit tobacco trade would not put more money in the hands of gangs. It had remained stable over time, and recent analysis suggested it may have decreased. Whether deliberate or not, coalition MPs' use of arguments made by tobacco companies suggested an urgent need to restrict tobacco companies' ability to influence policy, the briefing said. "Additional measures, include introducing lobbying regulations, such as a code of conduct to govern lobbying, a register that records all lobbying activity undertaken by organisations, and legislation that would define how policy makers and officials maintain high compliance with their obligations under the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control." The briefing said these policies would increase transparency and should be an urgent priority here, and internationally. While limiting lobbying and making interactions more transparent was crucial, even these steps might not capture all the interactions between politicians, their staff, tobacco companies or the groups they support. "Researchers must thus continue to question tobacco companies' arguments, and the logic and evidence used to support these, particularly given court findings that tobacco companies deceived the public for many decades." Prof Hoek said their analysis offered a cautionary tale for other countries considering smokefree measures.
Scoop
19-05-2025
- Health
- Scoop
Aotearoa's Smokefree Setback Offers A Warning For Countries Advancing Tobacco Control
Aotearoa New Zealand's sudden repeal of world-leading smokefree laws last year shows how quickly progress can be undone when political decisions ignore evidence, public opinion, and expert advice, according to a new Public Health Communication Centre Briefing. In the Briefing, researchers from the University of Otago analyse arguments made by Government and Opposition MPs during the rushed February 2024 repeal of smokefree 'endgame' laws. These laws would have reduced nicotine in cigarettes to non-addictive levels, drastically cut the number of tobacco retailers, and created a smokefree generation by ending cigarette sales to people born after 2009. Despite strong public support and compelling evidence showing the laws would reduce smoking and save lives, the Coalition Government used urgency to repeal them, cutting out public consultation. 'This repeal went against the best available evidence, against the advice of the Ministry of Health, and against what most New Zealanders want, says Prof Janet Hoek, co-director of ASPIRE Aotearoa. 'It's a textbook example of how tobacco industry-style arguments can derail bold public health action.' The analysis published today in the BMJ journal Tobacco Control found that: Government MPs claimed Aotearoa was 'on track' to reach Smokefree 2025 goals, despite data showing Māori smoking rates remain much higher than those of non-Māori. Many Government arguments lacked evidence and closely mirrored the tobacco industry's playbook, such as overstating fears about illegal trade and shifting blame to individuals instead of holding tobacco companies accountable. Opposition MPs strongly opposed the repeal, raising concerns about the lack of consultation, breaches of Te Tiriti o Waitangi, and the likely impact on health inequities. Prof Hoek says their analysis offers a cautionary tale for other countries considering smokefree measures. 'Understanding how these arguments played out and how misinformation went unchallenged can help other countries protect their policies from similar attacks.' The Briefing calls for steps to safeguard public health policymaking from tobacco industry influence. These include excluding tobacco companies from consultation on public health policy, introducing strong lobbying rules and a public register of industry contact, and ensuring full transparency in all interactions between politicians and the tobacco industry or its allies. About The Public Health Communication Centre The Public Health Communication Centre (PHCC) is an independently funded organisation dedicated to increasing the reach and impact of public health research in Aotearoa New Zealand. We work with researchers, journalists, and policymakers to ensure evidence is clearly communicated and accessible. We regularly publish public health expert commentary and analysis from across Aotearoa in The Briefing.
Otago Daily Times
08-05-2025
- Health
- Otago Daily Times
Tobacco Transparency Bill ‘will benefit all'
Aspire Aotearoa Research Centre co-director Professor Janet Hoek. PHOTO: SUPPLIED When the government repealed smokefree legislation last year, questions were raised in the health and research sectors about why it was done, and if parties in the coalition government benefited from it. Opposition health spokeswoman Dr Ayesha Verrall's new Tobacco Transparency Bill, launched yesterday, aims to increase transparency, improve policy making, and stop the government from supporting, endorsing or advocating for the tobacco industry's interests. University of Otago researcher and Aspire Aotearoa co-director Prof Janet Hoek said the Bill was long overdue. "What the Bill is trying to do is to bring to light the evidence that would enable us to find out whether the [coalition] parties were benefiting from it. "At the moment, we don't know." The Bill was partly inspired by the actions of Associate Health Minister Casey Costello, who led the repeal of the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products (Smoked Tobacco) Amendment Act 2022. It effectively scrapped laws aimed at slashing tobacco retailers from 6000 to 600, removing 95% of the nicotine from cigarettes and creating a smokefree generation by banning sales to those born after 2009. Prof Hoek and Radio New Zealand sought information under the Official Information Act (OIA) to see what justification the ministry used to repeal the Act. Initially, Ms Costello refused to release any documents, citing a clause in the OIA legislation protecting confidential advice tendered by ministers and officials. So Prof Hoek and RNZ referred their OIA requests to chief ombudsman Peter Boshier, who ordered Ms Costello to release the information. Prof Hoek said they eventually received "a flood" of emails and documents, which had been heavily redacted by the ministry. "It's very difficult when a lot of the material is being heavily redacted because obviously you don't know what you don't know and it makes it difficult to undertake any kind of rigorous analysis. "All we do know is that we've seen a move towards decisions that align with the tobacco industry's interests. "And that's not just the repeal of the smokefree measures. "There were tax reductions on heated tobacco products, and there have been proposals to introduce oral nicotine products, which the tobacco industry has been pushing." Prof Hoek said it left many in the health and research sectors asking questions. "Does this new direction align with the research evidence? The answer to that is no. "Does it follow the expert advice from the Ministry of Health or from people like me working in the area? The answer to that is no. "Is there really resounding public support for this new direction of travel? Again, the answer to that is quite clearly no. "You end up thinking, who is going to benefit from these decisions and I think that's where you inevitably have to start considering the tobacco industry and what influence they've had." Under the Tobacco Transparency Bill, the prime minister would have to issue policies requiring ministers to declare any interests they have in tobacco companies; the minister of health would provide guidance for public officials explaining the potential for tobacco industry influence; and the public service commissioner would set standards for officials involved in developing tobacco control policies. Prof Hoek said the Bill would stop the government from supporting, endorsing or advocating for the tobacco industry's interests, and promote stronger compliance with Article 5.3 of the World Health Organization's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, which calls on parties to protect "policies from commercial and other vested interests of the tobacco industry". The Bill would also prevent people with interests in the tobacco industry from working on tobacco policy, and limit officials' ability to move directly from government roles to positions in tobacco companies. "If politicians have got nothing to hide, that would be really obvious, and I think the net effect would be that some of the trust that's been lost in the government could potentially be regained. "The repeal of measures that would have seen New Zealand realise the Smokefree 2025 goal appalled the public health community. "This Bill will protect policies that promote wellbeing and equity, and that will benefit all New Zealanders," she said.
Yahoo
28-02-2025
- Yahoo
Kidnapping attempt, murder trial delay, new art space
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — Here's the latest in news and weather for Friday, Feb. 28, with KELOLAND On The Go. The Oglala Sioux Tribe Department of Public Safety and FBI are investigating a kidnapping attempt that happened earlier this week. OSTDPS: Kidnapping attempt near Kyle under investigation A judge in Flandreau delayed the murder trial of Joseph Hoek by another five months to allow his attorneys more time to prepare their defense. Hoek murder trial delayed until October There's only one inmate on South Dakota's death row right now and his name is Briley Piper. Death row inmate tries one more time to spare his life Day two of the South Dakota High School State Wrestling Tournament is about to be underway in Rapid City. Busy weekend for sports in Rapid City A new Sioux Falls Business is looking to give creative people an outlet for their artistic skills. A new art space for people in Sioux Falls A new way to watch KELOLAND News is ready for viewers who don't have cable, or who aren't currently in the area. A new way to watch KELOLAND News Windy weather. Storm Center PM Update: Windy Start to the Weekend Follow KELOLAND News and Weather with the KELOLAND News app. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
26-02-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Frans Hoek: At the Forefront of the Goalkeeper's Evolution
Over the past three decades, no position on the football pitch has undergone such a rapid transformation as the goalkeeper role. Back in the early 1990s, the world's best goalkeepers were physically imposing brutes like Oliver Kahn and Peter Schmeichel who were solely tasked with keeping the ball out of the back of the net; they didn't have the technical acuity and knowhow to advance the ball in possession apart from simply lumping it up the pitch. Fast forward to today, and these players are now occupied with a litany of different jobs from dribbling out of pressure to breaking the lines with a carefully weighted pass to charging off their line and intercepting danger. The biggest reason for this metamorphosis has been the back-pass rule, which prohibits goalkeepers from handling the ball after it was deliberately kicked to them by a teammate or sent to them via a throw-in from a teammate. This rule was introduced in the summer of 1992 to discourage time-wasting and overly defensive tactics after the 1990 FIFA World Cup was widely condemned as excessively monotonous and rife with back-passing, with goalkeepers holding onto the ball to waste time. During this tournament, Irish goalkeeper Packie Bonner held the ball for nearly six minutes in their match against Egypt. Suddenly, goalkeepers had a new set of rules to comply with: if they somehow forgot and handled the ball to pick up a ball, they would concede an indirect free kick. 'I remember when teams used to just score a goal and then turn around from the halfway line and whack it back to their goalkeeper,' stated Mark Bosnich, who was 20 years old when the rule was enforced and making the move from Australia to England. Over the next decade, he would emerge as a key figure in goal for Aston Villa, Manchester United and the Australian national team. 'It's definitely improved the game's entertainment value,' said Bosnich of the back pass rule. 'It's definitely changed the game for the better and sped things up.' Apart from the back pass rule, the biggest reason for the goalkeeper's transformation has been the advent of the goalkeeper coach. Today, every single football club has at least one goalkeeper coach – in fact, many of them have three or four. However, back in 1986, the goalkeeper coach didn't even exist. Enter: Frans Hoek. Born in Hoorn, the Netherlands, Hoek started his development with amateur club SV Always Forward, where he played from 1966 to 1973, before departing for Volendam, who agreed to pay for his studies as long as he played for them. While he was originally not making a salary, this changed after a handful of games, with Hoek enjoying a fruitful 12-year professional career with Palingboeren. Hoek was one of the 90 applicants who were chosen to undergo one of the nation's most exhaustive sports graduate programs and decided to focus on the goalkeeper position. Unfortunately for him, there were no instructional or tactical books to help guide him through his research, so he asked the Dutch Football Federation to contact their English counterparts and send them literature, who submitted books about the lives of the most famous goalkeepers of the time. 'I went back to my teacher, who was also a professional coach, and said, 'I want to give up because I can't find anything',' stated Hoek. 'He said, 'No, you chose it, so you're going to make a thesis on it.' He knew, of course, that there was nothing available. That was the start for me, the basis of my motivation and the base of why I think differently from most people.' 'I had to think 'How do I get information for my thesis?' I went to the local newspaper and asked for all kinds of pictures of goalkeepers, and they gave me a whole package and allowed me to keep it because it was so old.' 'It was New Year's Eve 1973, my parents were away, and I started to put all of these pictures on the ground of goalkeepers catching, punching, falling, diving, throwing and kicking, and the next step was searching for all kinds of interviews with goalkeepers and reading them. There was nothing at first, so I had to investigate, 'How can I get something to make something?' That has been the base for everything I do nowadays.' Eventually, he cobbled together a thesis which amazed his teacher so much that he convinced Hoek to convert it into a book: 'Alles over de doelverdediger,' or 'So You Want to be a Goalkeeper.' One day, as Hoek was getting ready to play a match against Feyenoord,, he was approached by Johan Cruyff, the greatest Dutch player of all time, who told him that his book was fantastic. A few years later, as both Hoek and Cruyff were transitioning from their playing days into a new career, the 'Flying Dutchman' asked Hoek if he wanted to join his technical staff at Ajax. 'Cruyff called me and that was basically a miracle. I first thought it was a joke, but it was really him. He said, 'I know goalkeeper specialists don't exist, but can we have a chat?' It was a magical meeting, and for me, it was completely new because I never actually coached a team, I had only done demonstrations and camps before.' Back in the mid-80s, goalkeeper coaching solely consisted of an assistant firing shots at a goalkeeper or sending up crosses for him to collect. In fact, they'd often be training on an entirely different pitch from their teammates. This changed with Hoek; two weeks into his Ajax tenure, Hoek complained to Cruyff that Ajax's goalkeeper Stanley Menzo would leave his line when he should be staying put and that he stays on his line when he should be coming off it to sweep up danger. He said that he didn't have the players to practice covering huge spaces, and as such, Menzo's only training would come during actual football matches. Cruyff agreed, and, much to Hoek's bewilderment, decided to send him the entire squad to work with on Thursday. Hoek barely slept that entire week, knowing that if he failed to engineer the perfect training session, his career would be over before it began. Nevertheless, he managed to convince the players and Cruyff, who agreed to give him access to the entire squad every Thursday from that point onwards. Over the next four decades, Hoek has worked as an assistant coach at Manchester United, Ajax, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, as well as other national teams like the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia and Poland. He has worked with goalkeepers including Edwin van der Sar, Víctor Valdés, Vítor Baía, Pepe Reina, and David de Gea and helped usher in a new form of goalkeeper training with his 'Goalplayer' program, which helps develop goalkeepers who could then be integrated into the team's build-up play, offering masterclasses, courses, and lectures to coaches, teams, and goalkeepers. And today, he's got a new challenge on the horizon: joining Robin van Persie as the new assistant coach at Feyenoord. Zach Lowy
