Jerome Laxale (Bennelong, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Curtin for drawing attention to this important health issue and allowing us all the opportunity to speak on it. In September last year, the Cancer Council published the results of their Generation Vape study, which looks at the use of vaping products by young people in New South Wales aged between 14 and 17 years old. This study found that 30 per cent to 14- to 17-year-olds had used vaping products. More than half of that group knew that the vape they used contained nicotine, and most of these teenagers found it very easy to access vapes. It is clear that the regulations on vaping are not preventing vaping products from being accessed by the general public and our kids. My daughters are nearly 12 years old. My son is eight. I don't want one of them to be able to freely and openly access a product that is illegal to them.

Current laws are co-administered by the Commonwealth and state and territory legislation and allow smokers to obtain these products solely for smoking cessation, following consultation and prescription from a medical practitioner. Those products can only be lawfully supplied by pharmacies in Australia. We all know that's not the case. In my own electorate of Bennelong, you can walk into countless tobacconists and convenience stores and purchase nicotine vapes. I know this is the case not only in my electorate but right throughout Australia. Clearly, a shadow market of vaping product exists, and they are being easily accessed unlawfully by children, adolescents, and adults alike, without any prescription.

To be honest, though, it is not really a shadow market or an underground market; it's out there for everybody to see. Tobacconists openly display huge neon signs advertising their vaping products. This illegal trade of vaping products bring serious concerns about this gateway to smoking and nicotine addiction and the long-term health implications of nicotine use. In their review of global evidence of the health risks of vaping products, the Australian National University found:

There is strong evidence that never smokers who use e-cigarettes are on average around three times as likely than those who do not use e-cigarettes to initiate cigarette smoking.

And they form a dependency on nicotine. The danger is that many young people think that vaping is safer than cigarette use. I mean, why wouldn't you? They're marketed to the young, and the vaping device can be colourful. It can light up, and, for some, it can be a stylish accessory. Then you go into the flavours, and a quick browse online shows that you can get blue raspberry; Fuji apple, strawberry and nectarine—I don't know how they fit all of those flavours into one vape, but they do—and even Granny Smith.

As relatively new products, the health implications of vaping are relatively unknown. However, this lack of information does not mean that they're safe. We know that e-cigarette users are exposed to chemicals and toxins that can harm their health. We know that vaping usage can cause throat irritation, coughing, dizziness, headaches, nausea, serious burns and injuries, nicotine poisoning and lung injury, which can sometimes be fatal. And they're only the implications we know of. There's not enough information to understand the impacts of vaping on conditions such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, reproductive health and mental health.

Many constituents have contacted our office, urging me to reach out to the government to take further action, which is why we have. Late last year, the health minister announced that the TGA will undertake a public consultation process on potential reforms to regulate nicotine vaping products, and we heard of some of those measures from the member for Curtin, the member for Mackellar and the member for Macarthur. We need to understand where the current regulatory framework fails and what action governments can take to curb the unlawful supply of these products; to create a regulated source of these products; to strengthen the product standard, making them unattractive to children and adolescents; and to clarify the status of nicotine vaping as therapeutic goods, ensuring that the regulatory framework captures any vaping product containing nicotine.

Labor governments have a proud history of implementing world-leading anti-smoking policies. It was us who brought in plain packaging legislation, which was then a world first. I'm confident we'll continue to work hard with industry stakeholders and the general public to protect my kids, our kids and friends from this dangerous product. We'll continue to take decisive action in this priority health area.

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