Darren Chester (Gippsland, National Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Roads and Regional Transport) Share this | Hansard source

It gives me great pleasure to join the debate and to add, perhaps, a healthy dose of reality to this whole debate and the motion before the House, because unfortunately this debate has been more about the government's political stunts than actually developing good public health policy. I acknowledge the member for Kingston and the comments she made in relation to the need to drive down the horrific toll that tobacco related products have on the health of our nation, and I certainly commend her for those comments and associate myself with those remarks. It is also worth noting that the coalition itself has a very proud history in reducing the smoking toll in this nation. The former Minister for Health and Ageing and now Leader of the Opposition, Tony Abbott, was a critical player in increasing the size of the graphic warnings on cigarette packs and helping to drive down the rates of smoking in Australia. We do understand the need to drive down smoking rates, which is for the good of the individuals concerned and also for the overall health of the nation.

I just encourage the government in this place to ensure that the measures we take are evidence based and scientifically proven. I have some concerns that the measures we are talking about today and will be talking about in the near future fail both those tests. Also, while I have the opportunity to speak: I do not appreciate the way the Minister for Health and Ageing has gone about this. Her self-righteousness and the sanctimonious way she has tried to belittle members on this side of the House in relation to the whole issue of tobacco products I think reflects very poorly on her and reflects poorly on the position she holds in this chamber. If she really wanted to build some consensus on this issue, she would start engaging with us in a much more constructive manner, because there are people on this side of the House who are very passionate about reducing the rates of smoking. I think the minister has done herself a great disservice by trying to score some cheap political points when she should be focused on improving the health outcomes for the Australian people. There is a consensus, I believe, in this place to drive down smoking rates, and I urge the health minister to start engaging with us in a more constructive manner.

This motion claims that there is 'significant evidence' to suggest that plain packaging will work—that it will actually drive down the use of tobacco products. I have read a lot of the research that the member referred to and I have read the research material that the minister tabled in the House. It is fair to say that a lot of that evidence is inconclusive at best. It puts forward a range of hypotheses which I am afraid do not come up with a definite conclusion which is quite as convincing as the government would have us believe, so I have some significant doubts about where the government is trying to take us in that regard.

Having said that, I note that the problem the government has in this space is that we are talking about a legal product. I am uneasy about any attempts by a government to strip away the property rights of an individual or a company without any suggestion of any compensation. The concern there is always going to be about what is next. We know that high-fat, high-sugar foods are not necessarily good for us. Are we going to put plain-packaging bans on hamburgers? Is that where we are heading to with this nanny state type of regulation?

I make these comments in a constructive way, because I abhor smoking. My own father died from lung cancer. It is something that I personally feel very strongly about. But I am worried that the government is investing a lot of time and effort in a particular initiative without the evidence base or scientifically proven results that would be worth the expense and the effort of the path we are heading down.

My other key concern is that there is a real concern in the community that Australian taxpayers are being exposed to a potentially massive legal bill. I hope the minister is right when she reassures the Australian people that she has strong legal advice that her position is sound, but I am afraid that the past record of this government and its ineptitude give me no reason whatsoever to be reassured by the minister and her stated confidence on that issue.

There are also some very genuine concerns being put forward by the small-business sector. I do not think the government should be flippant in disregarding the concerns being put forward by these small-business operators. They have concerns about the productivity of their own enterprises, and they are facing really tough times in the small-business sector. They are also making the point that the cigarettes in many states are already behind screens. You cannot see them anyway, so their argument is: how does the plain packaging reduce the incidence of smoking in that regard? There is also a question about the practicalities of how you deal with that in a small-business environment. You need to turn your back on the customer for a longer period. The concern amongst small businesses is that they expose themselves to a security risk for an extra five or 10 seconds while sorting through for the brand they are trying to find when it is plain packaged. Those are legitimate concerns, and I think the government really should listen to the small-business sector and understand why they have such reservations about this issue.

I am not here to ridicule the government or to condemn the motion; I am simply saying that there are some unanswered questions and that I would like to see the government become more constructively engaged with the coalition on this issue. I think the government needs to consult more with the small-business sector, consult more with the coalition and people who are interested in finding some outcomes here, and actually give us some proof that this will work. Maybe a trial is a better way of introducing this particular legislation. (Time expired)

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