Fiona Nash (NSW, National Party, Deputy Leader of the Nationals in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I am pleased to announce that the government will provide funding of $10 million from the National Tobacco Campaign to target Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. According to the 2012-13 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Survey, 42 per cent of Indigenous Australians over the age of 15 smoke on a daily basis. Tobacco smoking is responsible for around one in five deaths among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. As part of the process associated with preparing advertising and promotional materials, we will ensure that the campaign complements the rollout of the revised tackling Indigenous smoking campaign.

It is expected that once planning and concept testing is completed, a range of media and promotion activities will commence in the first half of 2016. Tobacco smoking is the most preventable cause of ill health and early death among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and it is important we have a range of targeted programs to address this issue.