Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister Assisting the Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I will be brief in speaking on the Customs Tariff Amendment (Tobacco Content) Bill 2008. The purpose of this bill is to make a minor amendment to the Customs Tariff Act 1995. The bill will insert a definition of ‘tobacco content’ into subsection 3(1) of that act. This amendment will clarify the existing references to tobacco content found within the Customs Tariff Act, confirming that the non-stick excise-equivalent customs duty on tobacco and tobacco products is based on the total weight of the goods, as intended. This is how tobacco content has been treated since 1 November 1999, when the term was introduced into the act by the previous government, and this bill is to be retroactive to that date. The amendments in this bill were initially suggested by the Customs department last year to clear up any potential misunderstanding. The legislation is non-controversial in that it puts into legislation what has been the practice for over eight years. The opposition supports the bill.

Chris Hayes (Werriwa, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The purpose of the Customs Tariff Amendment (Tobacco Content) Bill 2008 is to make minor amendments to the Customs Tariff Act 1995. The bill will insert a definition of ‘tobacco content’ into subsection 3(1) of that act. This amendment will clarify the existing references to tobacco content found within the Customs Tariff Act, confirming the non-stick excise-equivalent customs duty on tobacco and tobacco products is based on the total weight of the goods, as intended. I commend this bill to the House.

Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister Assisting the Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by leave—The member for Werriwa would be taking a rather unusual step if he did not grant me leave to speak again on this bill, given the predicament the House finds itself in, awaiting the arrival of the Minister for Home Affairs. The Customs Tariff Amendment (Tobacco Content) Bill 2008 is putting into legislation something that has been in practice for some time. But I will say, in speaking more widely about tobacco content, that the previous government had a tremendous record in terms of lowering tobacco use. When we came to power in 1996, the rate of tobacco use was in the mid-20s in terms of the percentage of the population using tobacco. The figures from the latest national household survey on drugs and alcohol, which were released in December 2007, actually show that the use of tobacco among all Australians has dropped to 16.4 per cent. So the campaigns that we conducted over that 11-year period did actually work. Education, rehabilitation and treatment of comorbidities and other issues have made all the difference to the rate of tobacco use in our country.

I think we all know, too, that the more we can reduce tobacco use, the greater the impact on the health budget. It is the single most important factor in cost saving within the health budget. You may be wondering how I know these things, Mr Deputy Speaker. It is because when I was the Parliamentary Secretary for Health and Ageing I had responsibility for tobacco, alcohol and drugs. I welcome the opportunity that has been afforded by the House to talk about tobacco in a wider sense—the excellent record of the previous government on that issue—rather than in the narrower sense in which I expected to speak on this technical bill. I welcome the arrival of the Minister for Home Affairs.

Patrick Secker (Barker, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Sturt for his assistance.

Bob Debus (Macquarie, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Home Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

in reply—I sincerely thank the honourable member for Sturt for filibustering for me while I found my way through the back passages of the parliament. I did not hear his exact words but I am inclined to believe that his general observations about the health implications of tobacco were correct.

The Customs Tariff Amendment (Tobacco Content) Bill 2008 is of an almost terminally technical nature. I am told that the term ‘tobacco content’ was first introduced into the Customs Tariff Act in 1999; that it was intended then that tobacco content would include the sugar, flavour and anything else added to the tobacco leaf during the manufacturing or processing of the product; and that it has been Customs practice and indeed an assumption of the industry since the introduction of that term that it included those elements. Nevertheless, the bill has not formally so defined ‘tobacco content’ and that is what we are now doing. The bill provides a definition of the term ‘tobacco content’ for the purposes of the act and confirms existing practice. It will serve to protect government revenue with regard to imported tobacco products. As it is not my purpose to diverge into questions of the health implications of tobacco, I find myself really unable to say anything more about such a minimal change to a piece of legislation. Indeed, I do think that, in my own career, it marks something of a record in terms of its brevity. I commend the bill to the Committee.

Question agreed to.

Bill read a second time.

Ordered that the bill be reported to the House without amendment.