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New Zealand's government will slash the number of retailers selling cigarettes and prevent Kiwis born from 2011 onward from ever buying tobacco as part of its ambitious Smokefree 2025 plan.

It will be an offence to sell or supply smoked tobacco products to anyone aged 14 or under when legislation kicks in from 2025.

Nicotine content will also be weakened under plans announced in parliament on Thursday by associate health minister Ayesha Verrall.

"Smoking is still the leading cause of preventable death in New Zealand and causes one in four cancers," she said.

"We want to make sure young people never start smoking ... people aged 14 when the law comes into effect will never be able to legally purchase tobacco."

The government has pledged to "significantly" reduce shops that can sell smokes, "especially in low-income communities", believing smoking to be a key factor in life expectancy gaps.

Dr Verrall said non-Maori live on average eight years longer than Maori New Zealanders, and 2.5 years of that gap was attributed to smoking.

"We want to make sure young people never start smoking ... if nothing changes it would be decades till Maori smoking rates fall below five per cent, and this government is not prepared to leave people behind," she said.

While 13 per cent of New Zealanders smoke, the figure jumps to 31 per cent of Maori New Zealanders.

The Smokefree 2025 goal - which is to limit smokers to five per cent of the population - was adopted in 2012 under John Key's National government, though the current opposition is yet to reveal whether it supports the plans.

Ascendant right-wing minor party ACT ripped into the changes, saying "prohibition has never worked".

"We will end up with a black market for tobacco, with no standards or regulation, and people will be harmed," spokeswoman Karen Chhour said.

The Greens have hailed the "bold" policies, as have public health campaigners.

Like many countries, NZ has adopted a number of health measures to curb smoking rates, including tax hikes, advertising bans and anti-smoking campaigns.

They have worked but the government still has a way to go to reach the five per cent goal by 2025.

At the turn of the century, one-in-four New Zealanders smoked.

That fell by half to one-in-six by 2012, when the Smokefree 2025 goal was adopted, and again to one-in-eight by 2019.

The five per cent goal has been reached for year 10 students, down from 28 per cent in 2000.

Speaking across Wellington later on Thursday, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern put the need for an action plan into context.

"Half of those who take up smoking die from its effects," she said.

© AAP 2021

Serial conman Peter Foster will be extradited from Victoria to Queensland to face fraud charges.

The 59-year-old failed to appear in a Sydney court in May accused of a multi-million-dollar Bitcoin scam.

He was on the run from police until his arrest near the Macedon Ranges town of Gisborne on Tuesday.

During a Melbourne Magistrates Court hearing on Wednesday, Foster did not oppose the extradition bid by Queensland authorities.

He faced court via videolink from a room at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, wearing a pale blue hospital gown and a tag around his wrist, and asked magistrate Jason Ong if he could make a "couple of observations or comments".

When Foster claimed he was concerned about the conduct of Queensland Police during his arrest in Port Douglas last year, his lawyer Chris Hannay told him it was "not the time or the place to vent those issues".

But Foster continued, prompting Mr Hannay to sigh.

"Well I can't stop you, but it's not appropriate," the defence lawyer said.

Foster told the court his arrest was "brutal" and that he had spent seven months in unlawful custody.

"As a proud Queenslander I want to go home," Foster said, but told Mr Ong he had no confidence in the state's police force.

"I am not sure whether this is assisting me in this matter today," the magistrate replied.

"These charges are fatally flawed, they should never have been brought," Foster said.

The court made an order for Foster to remain in custody in Victoria until he is extradited to Queensland to face Brisbane Magistrates Court on fraud charges on December 13.

Foster remains in hospital being treated for an unknown medical condition that he has disclosed to police.

He was initially arrested in Port Douglas in August 2020 on fraud-related charges filed in NSW.

The 15 charges were related to allegations he posed as a man called Bill Dawson and extricated 120 Bitcoin from a Hong Kong man in 2019 and 2020.

Granted strict bail in March, Foster failed to appear in May for a scheduled plea hearing in Sydney, despite being cited earlier that day by his lawyer.

As Foster started life on the run, NSW prosecutors dropped the charges and Queensland police subsequently issued a fresh warrant over the same allegations.

© AAP 2021

Australians will now be able to choose between two types of COVID-19 boosters, after the medical regulator gave provisional approval to the Moderna vaccine to be used as a top-up dose.

The Therapeutic Goods Administration gave the green light for people 18 and over to get a Moderna booster shot, six months after their second vaccine dose.

The administration said Moderna would be able to be used as a booster regardless of what COVID-19 vaccine brand people received during their first two doses.

It comes after the Pfizer vaccine was approved to be used as a booster shot.

More than 500,000 Australians have received their third vaccine dose since the boosters were made available.

The administration said the Moderna booster was approved following the evaluation of safety and efficacy data.

© AAP 2021