A petition was launched yesterday in an effort to convince the Government to introduce a tax on sugary drinks. Calls for a sugary drinks tax are not new, he said. "It was extraordinary that this earlier call to tax sugary drinks ... was snubbed by the then minister of health, and by both major parties,'' he said. Dr Clark agrees but in a statement said the Government had no plans for a sugar tax, as he has "consistently said''. In September, it was reported Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was told a sugar tax would generate millions in revenue and save lives.

Source: Otago Daily Times May 23, 2019 20:15 UTC