Gordon Reid (Robertson, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I want to start by commending and thanking the member for Higgins, my friend and fellow practising clinician, on moving this motion, recognising the importance of plain packaging for tobacco and recognising that we have to keep fighting for this issue, not just for the community but for our patients in particular.

Tobacco plain packaging is a triumph. It is a triumph of public health policy. It is an achievement that occurred under a Labor government. That's true for most of the significant health policies and programs that Australia has seen. We on this side of the House know, and they know in the Liberal-National coalition that that is the case. They know it deep down, but they do know it. This is because the health of our nation is front and centre in what we all must achieve.

Cigarette smoking is one of the leading preventable causes of mortality and continues to be responsible for countless deaths. When we examine the major causes of smoking-related mortality, there are three major causes for me that stand out, and I know other clinicians in the room will have the same opinion. Those include atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. They include chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, which some of you may know as emphysema and chronic bronchitis. I remember the first patient that I ever saw in an emergency department, at Wyong Public Hospital. It was a patient lying in their bed in the acute section—I remember I was standing on the flight deck just across the other way—unable to speak because they were so breathless. Their breathlessness was severe, and on further evaluation and assessment it would be noted that that patient was having an exacerbation of their emphysema and of their chronic bronchitis. This patient also had a significant smoking history, which we know is a major risk factor for COPD.

It is known that those who stop smoking reduce their risk of developing and dying from these tobacco related illnesses, and it is public policy such as tobacco plain packaging which involves a comprehensive multilayered strategy, including the graphic health warnings that we have seen, rolling tobacco excise increases, advertising restrictions, public health campaigns and quit smoking support, which help reduce smoking in our community and saves the lives of many throughout our community.

The consequences of tobacco smoking are extensive. I'll go into a few but one example that I do want to expand on is the harmful effects of tobacco smoke on our cardiovascular health—that is, the health of the heart, the health of the blood and the health of the blood vessels. These harmful effects can include: coronary vasospasm—the blood vessels around the heart constrict leading to the heart muscle having less oxygen; increased hypercoagulability—the blood is thicker and that predisposes patients to blood clots; dyslipidaemia—the amount of fat in a patient's blood becomes significantly dysregulated leading to things like heart attack and stroke; and myocardial infarction heart attack—sudden death and stroke. This is the shortened list. This is the simplified list of only two organ systems that are affected. I know the member for Higgins and the member for Mackellar have spoken about some of the dangers of tobacco smoking and cigarette smoking but it can literally affect every organ in the human body. As the member for Higgins rightly said, in both health and economic terms of tobacco use, disadvantaged groups are hit harder, especially our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander brothers and sisters right across the country in every electorate.

I want to finish not only by commending the incredible work of many in the public health sector, many in the research and the university sectors but also by making special mention of the former health minister, Nicola Roxon, in the former Rudd government, who fought tirelessly to ensure that this public health measure that not only saves lives but saves money in our economy—it helps our hospital system—became a reality.

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