Kim Carr (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister Assisting the Leader for Science) Share this | Hansard source

These bills, the Excise Tariff Amendment (Tobacco Duty Harmonisation) Bill 2017 and the Customs Tariff Amendment (Tobacco Duty Harmonisation) Bill 2017, will ensure that tobacco products in cigarette form and other tobacco products receive a comparable duty treatment. In effect, this means that roll-your-own tobacco will no longer receive a more favourable tax treatment than tailored cigarettes. Four annual adjustments to the duty rate from 1 September 2017 will result in roll-your-own tobacco attracting the same rate of duty per kilogram as tailored cigarettes. The change is a logical next step from Labor's previous tobacco excise measures and therefore we support it. Labor has always taken the initiative in measures to reduce smoking.

This measure will result in a gain to the excise and excise-equivalent receipts over the forward estimates period of some $360 million. GST receipts from this measure are estimated to increase by $75 million over the same period, and these increases are in addition to the increase in the excise of all products in the 2016-17 budget. The increase from revenue will be available to help reduce the budget deficit, which, as we all know, continues to blow out under the government.

Labor welcomes the revenue increases but not the unfair budget measures imposed by the Abbott-Turnbull government in pursuit of their warped economic priorities. The government has a long way to go when it comes to fair budget repair. The government has given priority to tax cuts for millionaires, multinationals and companies, which increases taxes for ordinary Australians. These bills are essentially a public health measure, not a revenue measure. But these bills are necessary.

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare National Drug Strategy Household Survey for 2016, released on I June this year, found that the use of roll-your-own cigarettes rose from some 26 per cent of smokers in 2007 to 36 per cent in 2016, and that, from 2013 to 2016, the use of roll-your-own cigarettes amongst smokers in their 30s rose from 29 per cent to 37 per cent. The lower cost of roll-your-own tobacco because of the more favourable tax treatment is believed to have contributed to these increases. Aligning the tax treatment of tailor-made cigarettes and roll-your-own tobacco removes the price incentive to buy roll-your-own tobacco. It is a sensible measure that should halt the increase in the use of this particular tobacco. Ideally, it ought to reverse it.

Despite numerous challenges, the World Trade Organization has upheld Australia's right to impose various measures that were introduced by the previous Labour government to reduce the level of smoking in this country. Last month the tobacco manufacturer Philip Morris was ordered to pay a reported $50 million in legal fees to Australia after losing its international court bid to scrap plain packaging. Many other countries have since followed Australia's lead. France, Hungary, Ireland, New Zealand, Norway, Slovenia and the United Kingdom now have plain-packaging laws. Similar laws are planned in Canada, Turkey, Singapore and South Africa.

Under Labor, Australia introduced many other measures aimed at cutting cigarette smoking. The excise on tobacco products was increased by 25 per cent in the 2010-11 budget. Restrictions were imposed on internet advertising. There was $102 million allocated to nicotine replacement therapies and other quit-smoking supports through the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. There was $100 million invested in the COAG National Partnership Agreement on Closing the Gap in Indigenous Health Outcomes, to tackle smoking rates in Indigenous communities. There was $14.5 million invested in the Indigenous Tobacco Control Initiative over three years from 2008. There was $5 million allocated in one-off funding for Quitlines in 2009-10. In November 2015 Labor announced that, if re-elected, we would deliver a further four excise-rate increases of 12.4 per cent, beginning on 1 July 2017. So I am not surprised that Labor's initiatives have been followed by the government. The 2016-17 budget announced annual increases in tobacco excise and excise-equivalent duties of 12.5 per cent from 2017 through to 2020.

The National Drug Strategy Household Survey, which I have already cited, shows that Labor's leadership in cutting smoking rates has achieved results. The survey found the proportion of Australians who have never smoked rose from 60 per cent in 2013 to 62 per cent in 2016. Most encouragingly, 98 per cent of Australian teenagers have never smoked. That is up from 95 per cent in 2013. Amongst younger people who do smoke, the age at which they smoked their first cigarette is rising. In 1995 it was 14.2 years. By 2013 it was 15.9 years. Then it jumped significantly, to 16.3 years, in 2016. However, the National Drug Strategy Household Survey also contains some rather alarming statistics. Smoking kills 15,000 Australians a year. One in eight adults still smokes daily. Smoking rates are highest amongst Indigenous Australians and amongst people with mental illness. These figures show the urgency of the bills that we are now considering.

Improving the health outcomes for Australians requires a little bit more than just harmonising tobacco taxes. You would hope that the government would do more than just follow in Labor's lead on raising tobacco excise. We urge the government to do the same by committing to the new national media campaign on smoking, as we, of course, suggested in the last election. The government mothballed the Australian National Tobacco Campaign in 2013. The campaign, familiar to people as the 'every cigarette is doing you damage' ads, had existed since 1997. It was hailed and copied by other countries because of its effectiveness. The National Drug Strategy Household Survey has also revealed the effects of the government's lack of commitment to a media campaign against smoking. Total levels dropped from 12.8 per cent in 2013 to 12.2 per cent in 2016. For the first time in two decades a statistically significant fall was not recorded.

Labor will continue to lead the way on measures to reduce smoking rates. Our record demonstrates our commitment. We will continue to hold the government to account in improving health outcomes for all Australians and in, at the same time, delivering a fairer budget for all Australians.