Emma McBride (Dobell, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Mental Health and Suicide Prevention) Share this | Hansard source

I am pleased to speak in support of the Therapeutic Goods and Other Legislation Amendment (Vaping Reforms) Bill 2024 as Assistant Health Minister and also on behalf of the people of my community on the Central Coast of New South Wales. The bill goes to the heart of protecting Australians—particularly young people—from the harms associated with vaping and nicotine. It builds on the Albanese government's strong focus on preventative and public health, and I thank Minister Butler for his leadership on this issue.

Health and education ministers across Australia and across political parties agree on the need for urgent action on this public health issue right now. I'm sure all of us in this parliament have had parents raise concerns about the impacts of vapes in schools and on the lives of their children. This legislation is an important step for the parliament to take in combating this public health risk, and I urge all members and senators to support this important reform.

The latest data from the Australian secondary school students alcohol and drug survey shows that about one in eight 12-to-15-year-olds and one in five 16-to-17-year-olds had vaped in the past month. Approximately 80 per cent of these young people were using disposable vaping devices. Nearly one-third of students tried vaping for the first time when they were aged 15 or 16, while 23 per cent—almost a quarter of students—reported being 12 years old or younger when first trying vapes. Young people are attracted to illicit vapes because they are aggressively, deliberately and intentionally marketed to them with packaging and flavours. Parents and teachers are concerned about vape shops opening up in close proximity to schools right across the country.

Worryingly, Australians who are have vaped are around three times more likely to take up tobacco smoking than those who have not vaped. Numerous studies have highlighted the concerns about potential adverse effects, including on adolescent brain development, worsening pregnancy outcomes, cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease and cancer. Critically, the long-term health risks of vaping are still unknown. Nicotine vapes may worsen mental health, amplifying stress, anxiety and depressive symptoms. Vapes have been found to include more than 200 different chemicals, including listed poisons, heavy metals and chemical by-products produced during heating. Some of these chemicals, as the Minister for Health and Aged Care has said, are used in weedkiller and nail polish remover, and in embalming. A range of other health risks are associated with vape use, including severe burns, poisoning and seizures.

In my electorate of Dobell on the New South Wales Central Coast, I've heard from teachers, parents and young people. Just last week I had primary school students come to the parliament and speak to me about their deep concern about the impact that vaping is having on their school community, their families, their children and their friends. A group of young primary school students came to the parliament from my electorate last week, and they raised with me their concerns about the impacts of vaping on their friends' physical health and their mental health. For those young people and for Australians right around the country, the reforms introduced in this bill should be supported by those across the House. They're designed to complement a wider set of actions to reduce the rates of tobacco and vape use, including public health information campaigns and smoking and vaping cessation services. Penalties applied in relation to importation, manufacture, supply, possession and advertisement offences will align with penalty provisions applied to counterfeit therapeutic goods under the Therapeutic Goods Act. Individuals will still be able to access vaping products as part of smoking cessation treatments, but this will be limited to clinical settings, with therapeutic vaping products available at pharmacies via a prescription from a doctor. This means that Australians who are legitimately using vaping products to quit smoking will still be able to do so under clinical supervision while we remove vaping access to kids.

As a pharmacist who's trained in nicotine addiction and smoking cessation, and who has spent much of my working life working in acute adult mental health inpatient units, I understand the risks associated with vaping and the urgent need to combat this public health emergency and environmental hazard. The community sentiment is clear in my community and in communities right around Australia. Anyone who has been to a P&C meeting, has been at school pickup, has heard from a parent or a teacher or a school principal is deeply concerned about the impact of vaping on students' learning and on behaviour. We cannot have vape shops on street corners targeting young Australians, creating a generation of nicotine addicts.

Substantial consultation was undertaken on these policy proposals with the public health sector, which has provided unequivocal support to urgently and comprehensively addressing the impact of vaping across Australia. The reforms to the regulation of vapes are appropriately supported by a commitment between the Commonwealth and all states and territories to collaborate on compliance and enforcement activities.

It was Labor, back in 2012, that introduced world-first tobacco plain-packaging laws, under the then health minister Nicola Roxon. Now, in 2024, we have an opportunity to lead the world again with vaping reforms. I had the chance, just a fortnight ago, to represent the Australian government at the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs, and Australia is seen as a world leader. This is a chance, again, for us to be leading globally in reducing the harmful impacts of vapes, particularly on young Australians. I urge everyone in this House—and now we that understand it'll be sent to the Senate and to a committee—to listen to the evidence and to hear from their local communities to understand the urgency. If we act now, we can stamp out this public health menace and this environmental hazard. We can, once again, be global leaders in public health reform around nicotine and the impacts of vaping. So I urge everyone to get behind this significant reform to protect the health of Australians, particularly that of young people, from the dangerous effects of vaping.

See this speech in context