Jason Clare (Blaxland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Education) Share this | Hansard source

Of course I will, Mr Speaker. They know that Australians want and deserve the Albanese government's tax cuts.

I'm also asked about disruption in our schools. There are lots of reasons for that, but one of them is vaping. This is what a principal said in the Australian on the weekend:

They're—

that is, students are—

fixated on getting their next hit, are very disruptive and distracted from learning. We see the behavioural effects of withdrawal, as kids disappear from the classroom so they can get nicotine hits.

One in six kids in high school are vaping at the moment—one in six! This is a menace in our schools. No wonder parents are worried about it. Think about this: nine out of 10 vape stores are within walking distance of our schools. That's why the minister for health is about to bring legislation into this parliament to ban the sale of these vapes at these stores, and I want to thank the minister for health for his leadership in this area. Unbelievably, in that same article on the weekend, the opposition refused to back it. They refused to say that they would support this legislation.

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