Kate Chaney (Curtin, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) notes the:

(a) increased use of unregulated nicotine vaping products (vapes) in Australia, particularly among young people;

(b) serious health implications of the unregulated use of vapes; and

(c) increasing community concern about the prevalence and accessibility to vapes;

(2) acknowledges that the Therapeutic Goods Association has sought public comment on potential reforms to the regulation of nicotine vaping products aimed at preventing children and adolescents from accessing vapes, while supporting access to products of known composition and quality for smoking cessation with a doctor's prescription; and

(3) calls on the Government to address the problems associated with increased access to and use of vapes, particularly among young people.

Nicotine vaping products, or vapes, may have some benefit for smokers who use them to quit cigarettes, but vaping carries very real risks, and the number of young people vaping is increasing dramatically. Health professionals say we are sleepwalking into a public health disaster. The policy challenge is making vapes available for smokers where appropriate but not available to children and young people. In October 2021 Australia became the first country to introduce a medical access model of regulating vapes. This requires that people wanting to vape get a prescription in order to obtain vapes with nicotine in them. There have been challenges with enforcement of this model, and the Therapeutic Goods Administration is considering potential reforms. I know the minister is concerned about the impact of vaping and the need to reinvigorate action on smoking, but this is an urgent issue that needs an urgent response.

The main problem is that there's a loophole allowing users and retailers to import vapes from overseas if they are not labelled as nicotine. But labelling on imports is unreliable; most vapes being sold contain nicotine, including some with labelling that says they do not. This means that vapes containing nicotine are getting past customs and are being sold over the counter, including to kids. There is growing community and expert concern—not about smokers transitioning down to vaping but about young nonsmokers transitioning up to vaping. In the words of a 23-year-old constituent, 'Most of my friends vape and none of them were smokers before.' In the short term, the nicotine in vaping is damaging and addictive, and ANU has shown that, in the long term, nonsmokers who vape are three times as likely to take up smoking than nonsmokers who do not vape. As for the rest of the chemicals in vapes, we don't yet know about the long-term impacts, because vapes are so new. Vapes contain a range of chemicals and solvents, including flavouring agents, many of which are toxic or carcinogenic.

Vapes are being targeted at kids. They come in flavours that sound like lollies—cola, strawberry, watermelon, pink lemonade. Teenagers are buying vapes at convenience stores and petrol stations and online. It's hard to know how prevalent vaping is right now amongst young people, because it's growing so rapidly. A few years ago, NSW Health reported that the proportion of young people vaping had more than doubled between 2020 and 2021 to 11 per cent. Since then, anecdotally, at least in my electorate, it looks like it has increased significantly. On the weekend, the West Australian newspaper reported nearly 4,000 suspensions in WA public schools last year due to vaping.

The tobacco industry has seen the potential for its future market and is now keen to promote vaping as well as cigarettes. Responsible Vaping Australia—which sounds like a good idea—was established by British American Tobacco. It has an interest in stopping the black market and developing its own new markets for vaping products. Exploiting a loophole in the tobacco advertising regulatory regime, Responsible Vaping Australia is advertising online, because it can be classified as political advertising, not tobacco advertising. There's also a proliferation of reports supporting vaping, many funded directly or indirectly by the tobacco and vaping industries. GPs say this is all part of a cynical attempt by the tobacco industry to hook a new generation on nicotine. Schools are doing their best to limit vaping but are losing the battle. AHISA, the peak body for independent schools, says, 'Despite schools' best efforts, students' willingness to experiment with vaping appears to be increasing and schools are being challenged not only to counter students' interest in vaping but to help meet the needs of students who may be suffering a serious and potentially fatal addiction.'

So what's the solution? Vaping may have a place for people trying to quit smoking, although there is debate about its effectiveness. To end the black market in vapes, we need a ban on importation and supply of all e-cigarette products, regardless of labelled nicotine content, except by pharmacies for smokers with a prescription. This way, we can then implement stronger border controls to intercept e-cigarette products. We need to update our tobacco advertising ban, which was introduced before the internet and has significant loopholes. This is urgent, and I urge the minister to take action. (Time expired)

Sophie Scamps (Mackellar, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I second the motion and reserve my right to speak.

Mike Freelander (Macarthur, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Curtin very much for moving this motion, which is very important for the health and wellbeing of the Australian public and, in particular, Australian children, who are being targeted by the tobacco industry. I can start my speech by saying that the tobacco industry is an industry as malignant as the diseases it causes. It wanders the corridors of parliament, trying to lobby politicians to maintain its business model. I have long been concerned about the vaping industry, which has been promoted by the tobacco industry as part of their business model.

In 2018, with the chair of the Standing Committee on Health, Aged Care and Sport, I and other members of parliament conducted an inquiry into vaping and vaping products. I think it's illustrated really by one thing. We had a lot of evidence from people all around the country who were pro-vape, anti-vape, doctors, vaping groups, patients, smokers et cetera, but I remember very well the public meeting we had in Sydney where the so-called 'medical' representative of British American Tobacco had come from England to give evidence. When I asked her whether the industry itself was conducting any research into the side effects or any of the long-term effects of vaping, she looked at the floor and didn't answer to start with. She then looked up, look down again and said, 'No.' We asked her again, 'Are you doing any research into the effects of vaping?' The answer was no. That's how bad this industry is, and yet we still see them wandering the halls of parliament and meeting with politicians. We know that one group, Philip Morris, donated $55,000 to the National Party in the last election and also $55,000 to the Liberal Democrats. They are still trying to lobby the parliament to allow free access to vaping for children, really for adolescents to adults, somehow in the misguided thought that they may stop people smoking. There is no evidence to suggest that. I think that the prescription model we have in Australia is a really good one. The only argument the tobacco industry has to that is that in other countries they allow free access to vaping.

Australia has had some of the best antitobacco legislation in the world and we should not compromise it by allowing free access to vaping. The products are not tested. We know that even though they say they don't contain nicotine, most products do. They are targeted at children, as the member for Curtin has already mentioned. There are flavours like watermelon, peaches and cream—things that clearly target children as a way to get them into nicotine addiction. And nicotine addiction is one of the strongest addictions that you can have. People who are addicted to nicotine have a much smaller chance of being able to be weaned from it than, for example, people who are addicted to alcohol. It is a terrible addiction.

Effective legislation can stop this, and we have to fight to continue it. There have been multiple inquiries. After our 2018 inquiry into vaping, in 2019 the tobacco industry managed to get one of their favoured politicians, who's still in this parliament, to start yet another inquiry into vaping. They wanted to make it available through retail outlets virtually to everyone. They said it would be restricted to people over 18, but there's very little way of enforcing that at all. The Retailers Association has been somehow coerced into agreeing that it's a good thing to have vaping available through petrol stations, corner stores and retail outlets everywhere.

The tobacco industry has not given up its fight. They should not still be wandering the corridors of this parliament, trying to coerce politicians into agreeing to their very flawed and dangerous business model. Once again, I thank the member for Curtin for bringing this motion to the parliament. It is very important that we maintain vigilance. Vaping is not something we want our children to be doing. It is yet another pathway to be addicted to nicotine, and it's disgraceful that there is yet another attempt for this by the tobacco industry.

Sophie Scamps (Mackellar, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise in support of the member for Curtin's motion that calls on the government to address the increased use of e-cigarettes, particularly amongst young people. As a doctor, I am alarmed at the prospect of Australians once again having the wool pulled over our eyes by the tobacco industry, as they now prey on our children via the portal of e-cigarettes.

Australia led the world when it came to implementing public health initiatives to protect Australians from smoking-related harm. In 2012, Australia became the first country in the world to implement plain packaging laws for cigarettes. To date, 24 countries have followed Australia's lead in adopting similar rules. Over the last three decades, smoking rates in this country have fallen from 24 per cent to 11 per cent. And yet here we are, 10 years on from that success, readying ourselves for yet another a battle—a battle against e-cigarettes: smoking 2.0. What's worse is that this time it is our children who are the target of the tobacco industry's predatory behaviour, with the bright-coloured packaging and the lollipop flavours.

The World Health Organization has confirmed that e-cigarette emissions typically contain nicotine and other toxic substances that are harmful to both users and nonusers who are exposed to the aerosols second-hand. Don't be fooled by the sweet smell of the emissions: e-cigarettes can contain as many as 200 toxic chemicals. A single disposable product can contain as much nicotine as 150 traditional cigarettes and cost as little as $5. Not infrequently, they contain nicotine even if they are labelled as nicotine free—not quite the cookies and cream or the strawberry kisses that the packaging promises.

Research published as recently as December 2022 concluded that vaping is the strongest risk factor for smoking, and a recent study of adolescents in New South Wales reported that half of the kids who regularly consumed e-cigarettes had never smoked. So, rather than being a smoking cessation tool, for young people e-cigarettes are actually a gateway drug to smoking. So it is no surprise that major international tobacco companies have invested heavily in e-cigarettes in recent years, and tobacco companies now own many of the top e-cigarette brands. It seems like the strategy of big tobacco is to move our children from e-cigarettes to cigarettes by getting them hooked on nicotine. Media, school and community reports suggest that the use of e-cigarettes amongst young people in New South Wales has exploded in recent years. Stores which sell e-cigarettes are popping up in communities all across Australia, including in my electorate of Mackellar. These stores are often located near bus stops and train stations that ferry our children to and from school. There have been recent reports of tobacconists selling e-cigarettes to children in school uniforms.

Data from the New South Wales ministry of health shows that in 2021 the number of illegal nicotine products that were seized from retailers was over 11 times the number from the same period in 2020, and 80 per cent of adolescents said they found it easy to access this product. Something must be done to stop the sale of these highly toxic, highly addictive products to our children. Big tobacco is preying on our youth, and all levels of government must work together to stop this.

There are steps that the Commonwealth government can and should take to help fix this ballooning problem. They include: stronger border protections and customs prohibitions for all vaping products; better minimum quality and safety standards—plain packaging and health warnings for starters; and prohibiting all added flavours. I call on the government to act swiftly and decisively to protect our children from the growing scourge of e-cigarettes. We must once again become world leaders in protecting our children from both cigarettes and e-cigarettes.

Jerome Laxale (Bennelong, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Curtin for drawing attention to this important health issue and allowing us all the opportunity to speak on it. In September last year, the Cancer Council published the results of their Generation Vape study, which looks at the use of vaping products by young people in New South Wales aged between 14 and 17 years old. This study found that 30 per cent to 14- to 17-year-olds had used vaping products. More than half of that group knew that the vape they used contained nicotine, and most of these teenagers found it very easy to access vapes. It is clear that the regulations on vaping are not preventing vaping products from being accessed by the general public and our kids. My daughters are nearly 12 years old. My son is eight. I don't want one of them to be able to freely and openly access a product that is illegal to them.

Current laws are co-administered by the Commonwealth and state and territory legislation and allow smokers to obtain these products solely for smoking cessation, following consultation and prescription from a medical practitioner. Those products can only be lawfully supplied by pharmacies in Australia. We all know that's not the case. In my own electorate of Bennelong, you can walk into countless tobacconists and convenience stores and purchase nicotine vapes. I know this is the case not only in my electorate but right throughout Australia. Clearly, a shadow market of vaping product exists, and they are being easily accessed unlawfully by children, adolescents, and adults alike, without any prescription.

To be honest, though, it is not really a shadow market or an underground market; it's out there for everybody to see. Tobacconists openly display huge neon signs advertising their vaping products. This illegal trade of vaping products bring serious concerns about this gateway to smoking and nicotine addiction and the long-term health implications of nicotine use. In their review of global evidence of the health risks of vaping products, the Australian National University found:

There is strong evidence that never smokers who use e-cigarettes are on average around three times as likely than those who do not use e-cigarettes to initiate cigarette smoking.

And they form a dependency on nicotine. The danger is that many young people think that vaping is safer than cigarette use. I mean, why wouldn't you? They're marketed to the young, and the vaping device can be colourful. It can light up, and, for some, it can be a stylish accessory. Then you go into the flavours, and a quick browse online shows that you can get blue raspberry; Fuji apple, strawberry and nectarine—I don't know how they fit all of those flavours into one vape, but they do—and even Granny Smith.

As relatively new products, the health implications of vaping are relatively unknown. However, this lack of information does not mean that they're safe. We know that e-cigarette users are exposed to chemicals and toxins that can harm their health. We know that vaping usage can cause throat irritation, coughing, dizziness, headaches, nausea, serious burns and injuries, nicotine poisoning and lung injury, which can sometimes be fatal. And they're only the implications we know of. There's not enough information to understand the impacts of vaping on conditions such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, reproductive health and mental health.

Many constituents have contacted our office, urging me to reach out to the government to take further action, which is why we have. Late last year, the health minister announced that the TGA will undertake a public consultation process on potential reforms to regulate nicotine vaping products, and we heard of some of those measures from the member for Curtin, the member for Mackellar and the member for Macarthur. We need to understand where the current regulatory framework fails and what action governments can take to curb the unlawful supply of these products; to create a regulated source of these products; to strengthen the product standard, making them unattractive to children and adolescents; and to clarify the status of nicotine vaping as therapeutic goods, ensuring that the regulatory framework captures any vaping product containing nicotine.

Labor governments have a proud history of implementing world-leading anti-smoking policies. It was us who brought in plain packaging legislation, which was then a world first. I'm confident we'll continue to work hard with industry stakeholders and the general public to protect my kids, our kids and friends from this dangerous product. We'll continue to take decisive action in this priority health area.

Andrew Wilkie (Clark, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The time allotted for this debate has expired. The debate is adjourned, and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.