Sussan Ley (Farrer, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Women) Share this | Hansard source

The Therapeutic Goods and Other Legislation Amendment (Vaping Reforms) Bill 2024 amends the Therapeutic Goods Act 1989 to ban the importation, domestic manufacture, supply, commercial possession and advertisement of disposable, single-use and non-therapeutic vapes. The bill preserves patient access to therapeutic vapes for smoking cessation and the management of nicotine dependence under clinical conditions. The bill will impact the sale and supply of non-nicotine vaping products, with vapes containing nicotine already subject to restrictions under the Poisons Standard classification.

The coalition will not stand in the way of this legislation passing through the House today so that we can thoroughly scrutinise this critical issue through a Senate committee inquiry. No-one wants to see Australian children having access to vaping products or becoming addicted to vaping. The coalition's primary concern is preventing children from getting access to these products. We're also focused on stamping out the black market driven by organised crime that is supplying these illegal vapes to children. The Albanese Labor government has failed to control the illicit vaping market and has failed to protect children against the proliferation of vaping products. This makes greater scrutiny of this legislation absolutely essential. Right now, it is illegal to buy a nicotine vape without a prescription, yet kids are still getting ready access to flavoured vapes in coloured packaging that contain nicotine.

The latest National Drug Strategy household survey found that one in 10 Australians under 18 are current vapers. This represents a fourfold increase since 2019. This is unacceptable. It is clear that the prescription-only model being pursued by this government is failing. Right now, only around 10 per cent of Australian vapers are purchasing their product legally through a prescription. Even the TGA has acknowledged that the prescription-only model has not achieved its goals. We're very concerned that entrenching this existing failing model will not prevent children from having access to vaping products.

Historically, prohibition has not been effective in getting black market activity under control. That's why we're also very concerned that the government's approach will further drive the sale of these products to the black market.

It is also clear that the resourcing of enforcement measures at the borders and the point of sale has been grossly insufficient. Currently, the vaping black market is estimated to be worth well in excess of $1 billion and is being fuelled by the importation of more than 100 million illicit disposable devices each year. In Victoria alone, the black market for vapes has been valued at up to $500 million. The government has failed to establish or fund its promised Illicit Tobacco and E-Cigarette Commissioner to seek to get this thriving black market under control.

The Albanese government proved last year that they're not up to the job of cracking down on organised crime, as they sought to pass their Public Health (Tobacco and Other Products) Bill 2023 without addressing the thriving illicit tobacco trade. In clear acknowledgement of their lack of action on enforcement, the government supported the coalition's amendment to establish a new Illicit Tobacco and E-Cigarette Commissioner within the Australian Border Force. The coalition welcomed the government's decision to support our amendment in clear acknowledgement of our strong leadership on protecting Australians from the growing black market in both illicit tobacco and illicit vapes.

The commissioner will support developing and implementing strategies for addressing illicit tobacco and e-cigarettes and enforcing existing regulations. We called on the government to act quickly to set up the commissioner so they can adequately and urgently address the illicit tobacco and vaping black markets. Since the government announced they would act on our amendment in January, we have not seen any evidence that this critically important commissioner has actually been established. They must now come clean on what work has been done to establish an Illicit Tobacco and E-Cigarette Commissioner, to crack down on these thriving black markets. If they fail to do so, then it's clear that they're not serious about preventing children's access to illegal vaping products.

Enforcement is a critical component of cracking down on this issue, but the government has failed to explain how this legislation before us today will not further fuel the black market or how it will adequately fund enforcement measures both at the border and at the point of sale.

The government has also failed to explain how this bill will prevent children from accessing vaping products and how they will measure the success or failure of their policy. The government must provide Australians with these details. Importantly, they must be transparent so that Australian parents know what is being done to ensure that their children are protected from the harms of vaping. That is why the coalition will seek to refer this bill to a Senate committee of inquiry to ensure full and proper scrutiny.

The government has failed to control the illicit vaping market, and they have failed to ensure that children do not have access to vaping products. The coalition does not want to see this continue to get worse. The coalition will not stand in the way of this legislation passing through the House today. However, we will be moving an amendment to make it clear that we expect the government to address the clear failures of the current prescription-only model.

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