Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Health and Ageing) Share this | Hansard source

Her actions speak loudly because this is the government that has taken an issue where there was bipartisan support, where there remains bipartisan support, and has sought to turn it into a political issue. I think that is unfortunate. It reflects poorly on the government. To try to use the issue of tobacco control or reducing smoking rates—as I say, an admirable cause—to distract from other political issues is without precedence and it is unfortunate.

It is worth bearing in mind some of the outcomes in this area over the course of recent years. We do know that by 2010 the proportion of daily smokers in this country of 14 years and older had declined to 15.1 per cent. It was a downward trend that the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare says began in 1995. From 1989 to 2007 smoking rates in Australia declined by 40 per cent for men and 44 per cent for women. They were among the biggest declines in the OECD. For women, it was the biggest decline in the OECD. It was under a coalition government that the biggest decline in smoking rates occurred. In 1995, 23.8 per cent of Australians were smokers. By 2007 that had declined to 16.6 per cent. In the early 1990s smoking rates were declining by seven per cent annually. That rose to 10 per cent from 1997 onwards.

The biggest decline in cigarette sales in Australia, we now know, came in the years between 1998 and 2002. In that three-year period, total sales declined by 18 per cent and on a per capita basis by about 20 per cent. Many people rightly ask why did these significant outcomes come about? We know that in June 1997 the then Liberal health minister, Michael Wooldridge, began the biggest ever advertising campaign against smoking. In 1999 the Howard government reformed cigarette taxation from a weight basis to a per stick basis. This ended the unique situation where in our country tobacco companies could offer bonus cigarettes at discounted prices in packs of 25, 30, 40 or even 50. In 2006 then Liberal health minister, Tony Abbott, introduced the graphic health warnings on cigarette packets. In 2009 the coalition proposed a further increase in tobacco excise, perhaps the most effective means of lowering smoking rates. It took the Rudd government a further year to actually act.

It is also important to recognise in this debate that the first ban on advertising of tobacco products on TV and radio was introduced by the Fraser coalition government in 1976. We know that only now in America are they moving to institute the type of graphic health warnings on packets of cigarettes that the Liberal government introduced in 2006.

Australia does rank as a world leader. There are few nations who have lowered smoking rates further than our country has. We are considered a world leader and rightly so. Most of that action, as I say, was taken over the period of the previous coalition government. The point I come back to is that it was made in a bipartisan way and it was not used as some sort of a political axe to bang over the head of the then opposition, which is now in government. There has been a respectful debate up until this point. It is a very important point to make because there will be further actions that will be required both by this government and the incoming government, whoever that might be at the next election, to further reduce smoking rates. Like other health groups, interested stakeholders, people who have written to me and people who have expressed public support for the government's actions, we stand as one to make sure that we can reduce smoking rates and better inform consumers about the perils of taking up smoking. And we will continue to do that. I pledge in this debate that, if the coalition win at the next election, as health minister I will not use this as a political tool to assault the Labor Party. I accept that the Labor Party has, as does the Liberal and National parties, a bipartisan view that we should reduce smoking rates. I was the shadow health minister when we first recommended to the government, before they acted, to increase the excise on tobacco. We did that because there was clear evidence that increasing the price was a deterrent, particularly for younger people, to continuing or to taking up smoking. We will continue those good endeavours to make sure wherever possible we can reduce smoking in this country. I think that is evident in the speech also, as I mentioned before, of Dr Southcott.

We have amendments to this bill that we think will strengthen the situation. The government want people to believe that they were the first to introduce measures to try to reduce smoking rates. I hope that today as part of this debate I have dispelled that myth. If you repeat a lie often enough, sometimes people will fall for it, but the fact is that the Liberal coalition government had a proud record which led to significant declines in smoking rates. We will continue to support measures which do that. It is important that this government recognise that the Australian people have called their number. The Australian people understand that this is not a competent government in the area of health. This is not a government, regardless which area of health you talk about—

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