The Smokefree Coalition was governed by a board of trustees who provided strategic direction, ensured the financial viability of the organisation and oversaw the activities of the executive director.
However, in November 2007 the Deed of Trust was varied to remove the restriction on the term for which a board member appointed by one of the five founding organisations may hold office.
The executive director was responsible for the day-to-day finances of the Smokefree Coalition, acted as its spokesperson and worked to further its goals and objectives.
In its early years the Smokefree Coalition made a submission to the Social Services Select Committee in support of the Smoke-free Environments Amendment Bill.
New Zealand was one of the first countries in the world to enact legislation to prevent all workers, including those in hospitality, from the dangers of second-hand smoke.
[10] On 26 May 2016 the Smokefree Coalition organised a protest outside Parliament in Wellington where students lay on the ground as if dead to represent the "5000 New Zealanders who die from smoking-related illnesses every year".
This Action Plan 2015–2018 and Roadmap set out the key strategic be undertaken before 2018 to place New Zealand back on track to achieve Smokefree 2025 goal.
The Coalition believed even the threat of such action could cause New Zealand and other countries to hesitate before enacting policy and laws that would protect the health of their people.
A new fortnightly version of the Tobacco Control Update is now being published by Hāpai Te Hauora, which was awarded New Zealand's newly consolidated (single) smokefree advocacy contract by the Ministry of Health in 2016.
He said anti-smoking lobby groups, including the Smokefree Coalition, had been ineffective with the number of smokers in New Zealand only having dropped from 700,000 to 600,000 in the last five years at a cost of more than $300 million.
The Smokefree Coalition ceased operation on 30 June 2016 after a Government decision not to renew the contracts of all tobacco control organisations.