David Leyonhjelm (NSW, Liberal Democratic Party) Share this | Hansard source

My question is to Senator Nash, representing the Minister for Health. The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare reports that, for the first time in over two decades, the daily smoking rate did not significantly decline over the most recent three-year period, from 2013 to 2016. This is the first three-year period during which plain packaging has been in force throughout. Over this period, tobacco excise rose by more than 50 per cent. Yet in the same period smoking has fallen significantly in numerous countries, including the US and the UK, where there has been no plain packaging and excise is much lower but e-cigarette have been legal. Given the evidence, will the government abandon plain packaging and amend its poisoned standard to treat e-cigarettes like cigarettes? Or do we in Australia know better than the rest of the world?