Carina Garland (Chisholm, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I'm really pleased to support the Public Health (Tobacco and Other Products) Bill today. As the Minister for Health has stated, this bill builds on the pioneering tobacco control reforms introduced by past Labor governments, which include Australia's world-leading tobacco plain-packaging reforms. We know that the tobacco plain packaging was a courageous policy, and it was achieved in the face of often savage and rhetorical assault. It was imaginative policy. It was world-leading, and we know that because since the time it was introduced by a Labor government, 26 countries have followed Australia's example. This policy has saved lives and will continue to save lives not just here in Australia but also around the world.

It's important to remember that when plain-packaging legislation was introduced, around 16 per cent of Australians smoked each day. Today, that rate is down to just 11 per cent, which is the equivalent of a million fewer Australians smoking—a million fewer Australians exposing themselves to the harms and diseases that come from cigarette smoking. We know the health impacts of this change are far-reaching, and it has meant that tens of thousands of families will now never have to struggle through the tragedy of seeing a loved one suffer and die young, or contract the vast range of diseases caused by smoking that become chronic.

Unfortunately, tobacco use does remain the leading cause of preventable death and disability among Australians. It is estimated to kill more than 20,000 Australians each year, and it also happens to be the risk factor that is the single greatest contribution to the health gap between First Nations Australians and others. As the minister for health has already stated in this debate, while Australia's plain-packaging measures have made it harder for the tobacco industry to promote it's product, big tobacco has unfortunately found new loopholes to promote its product and to increase its appeal to new consumers. That appeal has tended to be for young people with respect to packaging and brand design features. Once again, it falls to a Labor government to close the loopholes that undermine our tobacco control measures and to shield Australians against the tricks and tactics of the tobacco industry.

The tobacco regulations that were put in place by the Labor government in 2011 sunset on 1 April 2024. As such, the current suite of regulations for plain packaging and tobacco advertising will lapse unless we act now. Australia's Commonwealth Tobacco Control Framework, including the Tobacco Advertising Prohibition Act, the Tobacco Plain Packaging Act and regulations have been the subject of a wide-ranging review. This involved a comprehensive analysis of options to modernise the existing legislative framework for tobacco control to ensure that it remained fit for purpose. It also addresses current gaps and limitations that exist and assists with tackling future challenges in tobacco control.

This bill reflects the Australian government's ongoing commitment to improving the health of all Australians by reducing the prevalence of tobacco use and its associated health, social and environmental costs, and the inequalities it causes. This bill also supports the National Tobacco Strategy 2023-2030, which commits to reducing daily smoking prevalence to below 10 per cent by 2025 and to five per cent or less by 2030. This bill also prioritises, and the plan prioritises, tackling smoking in First Nations communities to reduce smoking rates amongst First Nations people to 27 per cent or less by 2030. This commitment is consistent with Australia's obligations as a party to the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. This international treaty aims to protect present and future generations from the harms of tobacco use and exposure to tobacco smoke. Importantly, it will ensure Australian laws keep up with emerging products and marketing strategies.

This bill modernises, simplifies and streamlines our regulation of tobacco products, keeping up with international best practice. And it was feedback from two broad consultations, undertaken in 2019 by the former government, that established that there is a need for ongoing regulation to achieve the objectives that we've set out in respect of tobacco control. To this end, on 30 November last year our government announced a suite of reforms to bring together current legislation and to introduce new measures to reduce tobacco prevalence and to have a particular focus on youth and young adults.

There has never been a more crucial time to introduce this bill. Unfortunately Australia's current tobacco related measures are split across as many as eight different laws, regulations, instruments and court decisions. For example, we know that legislation prohibiting certain forms of tobacco advertising is now 30 years old. And what's happened as a result of this patchwork of regulations has been that gaps exist. This has meant that smokers are falling through these cracks and tobacco companies are taking advantage of those cracks.

This bill brings together tobacco measures along with 11 new measures into a single streamlined and effective act of parliament which will allow us, as a government, to continue the fight against tobacco and nicotine addiction. In practical terms, this means that this bill provides for updated and improved health warnings and tobacco products to better inform consumers of the effect of tobacco use. It provides improved coverage, enforcement and compliance for tobacco control through updated advertising restrictions, definitions and the introduction of a civil penalties regime.

The bill expands advertising prohibitions to reduce the public's exposure to the advertising and promotion of e-cigarettes and other novel and emerging products, particularly those that are targeted at young and vulnerable people. It provides restrictions on the use of additives and ingredients that enhance the attractiveness and palatability of tobacco products. It provides better regulation of product design features that are known to make tobacco products more attractive to consumers. And it restricts the use of brand invariant names that falsely imply reduced harm and ensures there is a provision for the inclusion of health promotion inserts that encourage and empower people who smoke to quit. It also enforces the mandatory disclosure of tobacco product ingredients, which is really important, and the sales, volume and pricing data in advertising, promotion and sponsorship expenditure.

The Labor government has consulted extensively on these proposed reforms, including the provision of a six-week public consultation period on an exposure draft of this bill. Submissions were received from individuals, consumers, academics, public health organisations, state and territory health departments, Commonwealth agencies, tobacco manufacturers, importers, wholesalers, packagers and retailers. So it was a fairly wide-reaching consultation process.

These reforms represent a renewed focus on improving the public health of Australians by discouraging smoking and the use of tobacco products while also being in lockstep with the vaping measures that the Minister for Health and Aged Care already announced in May. These reforms are supported by robust evidence of the impact of the measures on smoking. The long-term objective is to reduce prevalence by reducing uptake, with a particular focus on young people. As mentioned earlier, these measures will further strengthen gains made by Australia's world-leading reforms, such as plain packaging. The main objective of these reforms is to reduce the daily smoking prevalence. It is to discourage uptake among people who do not smoke. It is also to increase cessation among people who do smoke.

On this side of the House, we have always done what we can to protect the health of Australians. It is only Labor that has ever been able to lay claim to having a proud history when it comes to tobacco control. Unfortunately, as bold and creative as Labor's plain packaging reforms were, they were met with assault and they are now outdated. We have lost a decade of taking action to make sure that there were the necessary improvements to laws to ensure that people who want to stop smoking find it easier to and are encouraged to stop and that we don't see vulnerable people and young people taking up the habit.

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