Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

In a cruel twist of irony, the Marlboro Man died of lung cancer. Actually, it has been reported that three of the actors who appeared in that advertising campaign, one of the most successful of all time, died from cancer. One of those actors was Wayne McLaren. He contracted lung cancer in the early 1990s. He'd been smoker for 25 years and died in 1992 at the age of 51. The company, Philip Morris, initially denied that he'd appeared in the ads but later admitted he had. McLaren spent his last few years testifying in favour of antismoking legislation and trying to convince the company to limit tobacco advertising. It is said that some of his last words were:

Take care of the children. Tobacco will kill you, and I am living proof of it.

This should be a bipartisan approach, and I commend the member for Higgins for moving this motion. Last year Australia marked the 10th anniversary of Labor's world-leading tobacco plain packaging laws, an anniversary worth celebrating. It ranks as one of the greatest legacies of the former Labor government, along with achievements like the National Disability Insurance Scheme, needs-based funding for education, and the National Broadband Network. The introduction of plain packaging by the Gillard government in December 2012 was a historic world first and a significant public health policy. It's something that has been emulated by at least 26 countries around the world.

Thanks to that landmark legislation, Australia now has some of the toughest and most comprehensive antismoking measures in the world. These laws remove tobacco company logos and include new and larger graphic health warnings. Taking a preventative health approach, we made it easier for Australians to kick the habit, with a range of initiatives that included graphic health warnings, rolling out tobacco excise increases, advertising restrictions, public health campaigns and quit-smoking support. Smoking rates in Australia have declined from 16 per cent to 11 per cent. As the member for Higgins rightly pointed out, a million fewer Australians now smoke. She is an eminent scientist and clinician, and I commend her for the work she does.

Tobacco use has a disproportionate impact on the health and economic outcomes of disadvantaged groups, people with mental health issues, First Nations people and working class people. In my experience growing up, it was so common for people to smoke, and I'm so fortunate that I didn't take it up. In terms of our First Nations people, nearly a quarter of adverse health outcomes can be attributed to the Indigenous people of this country smoking in too larger number.

This should be a bipartisan approach, but, can I say, where are the Liberal and National party members here? Where are they? I well remember when we introduced this hard-fought vision because during that Gillard era I was the assistant minister for health and aging. I remember it. The Labor government stared down fierce opposition from an unholy alliance between the coalition and tobacco companies. The then opposition leader Tony Abbott claimed that plain packaging was tax policy, not health policy! Of course we had $300,000 of donations from tobacco companies to the Liberal and National parties in 2009, with $430,000 of donations since plain packaging came into effect.

Indeed, I remember when the current Leader of the Opposition was shadow health minister. I remember it really well. He described world-leading and life-saving reforms as 'a bridge to far'. I remember the vitriol and the hyperbole we had from those opposite, and they haven't even got the grace to come in here and talk about it. Where are they? I commend the crossbenchers for doing so. Well done. It goes to show they are interested in this policy as well. The reality on so many issues is the Liberal and National parties go missing—missing on workplace relations, action on climate change and integrity issues in terms of transparency and accountability and governance—and they've gone missing today as they did 10 years ago. They were completely out of touch on this issue. They are on the wrong side of history when it comes to plain packaging and tobacco control.

I want to commend Nicola Roxon. She was a feisty individual. She was tough. She took them on, and she got this achieved. There were many people, including public servants, health groups around the country, the AMA and a whole bunch of organisations, all backing us. The secretary of the department was terrific, and there were so many great people. I want to thank Nicola Roxon for her courage and conviction in tackling tobacco smoking. And I want to thank the member for Higgins for doing the right thing, caring for people in her clinical practice but now also caring for people in her parliamentary practice and for bringing this motion before the chamber.

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