Michelle Rowland (Greenway, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Health and Ageing. Given today is World No Tobacco Day, what support is the government receiving in its efforts to implement anti-tobacco measures such as introducing plain packaging and reducing tobacco company influences, and what is the government's response?

Nicola Roxon (Gellibrand, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Health and Ageing) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Greenway for her question. People might have heard the member for Greenway this morning talking about her earlier habit, as a young woman, of smoking and choosing the packet that was the most glamorous and the fact that she has been able to quit that habit and now is supporting the introduction of plain packaging—a world first. On World No Tobacco Day, it is an appropriate time to congratulate all those campaigners who for years and years have been calling on governments to take this action, and I am very proud to be part of a government that is taking this action.

I want to congratulate the Leader of the Opposition. I know he does not normally like listening to me here at the dispatch box but this might be an occasion when he does. I congratulate the Leader of the Opposition for finally declaring that he is going to do the right thing and that the Liberal Party will support this measure when it comes into the parliament. More importantly, I want to congratulate the member for Moore, the member for Hasluck and the member for Fairfax. There were many members on the Liberal Party backbench who finally brought the Leader of the Opposition to this position. It was against his instincts; his instincts were to say no. He did not want to do it, but he has been forced to do it by the weight of evidence that this is the right thing to do. I am pleased that the Leader of the Opposition has decided to support this measure, and I want to congratulate him for that. I do think, however, that on World No Tobacco Day there is a remaining habit that he needs to kick and that is a habit that goes to the receipt of tobacco donations. I report to the House that the AMA last week—

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! Those on my left. The minister has the call. She should be heard in silence.

Nicola Roxon (Gellibrand, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Health and Ageing) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I report to the House that on Friday last week the AMA presented its tobacco awards and I am pleased that our government was the recipient of one of those awards. But another government was also a recipient. We shared the AMA award for tackling tobacco with a state government. I want to give you this quote:

… I do not support receiving donations from tobacco companies. That is the position we had at the last state election; it is the position we will maintain.

These comments from the Western Australian Liberal Premier, Colin Barnett, earned him an award from the AMA for resisting the influences of big tobacco companies who are donating large amounts to the Liberal-National Party. Far from being embarrassed about this, the Leader of the Opposition went on television last week and said that not only were people welcome to donate to the Liberal Party but he would invite them to donate more. It seems that British American Tobacco giving 97 per cent of their donations to the Liberal Party is not enough; they want 100 per cent of the donations from British American Tobacco.

Obviously, we are delighted that the Liberal Party has seen what is the right thing to do. We want to congratulate the opposition for coming to its senses and I would like to nominate British American Tobacco for a Guinness Book of Records award for an own goal. The only reason we have been talking so much about this for the last two weeks is that Mr Crow went out and gave an extraordinary press conference which ultimately led to the Leader of the Opposition being so embarrassed that he had to change his position.