Jane Hume (Victoria, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It's true. I know it's hard to believe. Butter wouldn't melt in my mouth now, but at the time, I tell you, I was a wild child. I took up smoking when I was 16. I vividly remember the influence of the brands and advertising. My first cigarette—I will never forget it—was a Sterling Smooth. It had a beautiful silver packet—remember those! It was shared with me by a girlfriend. I thought that she was super cool, and that was why I wanted to try it. The first one made me so sick. By the second one, I began to work out what I was doing. By the third one, that was it—I was hooked. I was an expert. I looked cool; I was a 16 year old and I looked super cool—I looked Sterling-Smooth cool! But then I realised as a teenager that, as cool I was, I was still desperate to be kissed and I really needed that minty freshness, so I switched to Alpine. I switched to menthols because they gave me that minty freshness.

Senator Molan interjecting—

'Fresh as Alpine'—I don't know whether you remember that, Senator Molan. But then I matured somewhat. That desire for the freshness remained, but I was a bit more mature, a bit more sophisticated, so I moved to St Moritz. That was the cool menthol brand. That was the menthol of choice for your mature young woman—except when I went to the Guns N' Roses concert in 1993, and then of course I reverted right back to the Winnie Blues in the shoulder, under the sleeve. Do you remember those? Guns N' Roses and Winnie Blues! When I settled into adulthood, there I was still smoking, still influenced by those brands, but I was a mature and far more professional person, so Benson & Hedges extra mild was my brand of choice. To tell you the truth, if I were going to pick up a cigarette this evening, it'd be Benson & Hedges extra mild all the way. So advertising does make a difference; I still remember those brands.

This bill aims to expand the categories of persons who can be appointed as authorised officers empowered to undertake plain packaging compliance activities under this act. Specifically, it will allow for more authorised individuals to enforce that plain packaging legislation to ensure that others aren't influenced the same way I was. Over the past several decades, the Australian government has implemented a broad range of tobacco control measures, including an excise increase on tobacco; education programs and campaigns such as the ones I spoke of earlier; plain packaging of tobacco products; labelling tobacco products with updated and larger graphic health warnings of horrible things like rotting teeth and gangrene; prohibiting tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship; and providing far more support for smokers to quit. This multifaceted approach to tobacco control and collaboration between the Commonwealth, the states and territories and the non-government organisations has been instrumental to achieving the decline in smoking that we have seen.

It is important to do because the effects of smoking are very clear. Despite that decline in smoking in Australia, we remain firmly committed to continuing the efforts of previous governments to support and build on Australia's great success in tobacco control. Tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable and premature death in Australia and both contributes to and compounds existing health and social inequalities.

In 2011, the Australian burden of disease study demonstrated that tobacco was the largest risk factor that contributed to the burden of cancer. Tobacco use is attributed to 11 different types of cancer. Almost ¼ of the total cancer burden is attributed to tobacco use. In 2011, tobacco use killed almost 19,000 people in Australia and was responsible for nine per cent of the total burden of disease and injury, making it the most burdensome risk factor. The 2014-15 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Survey showed that the proportion of Indigenous people aged 15 and over who were daily smokers was just shy of 39 per cent. While this is significantly down from the 48.6 per cent who identified as daily smokers in 2002, it still remains an unacceptable statistic. In 2016, those living in remote or very remote communities were approximately twice as likely to report being daily smokers compared to those living in major cities. Daily smoking rates among those living in regional areas was also 40 to 70 per cent higher compared to those living in major cities over the same period. In fact, in 2016, it was estimated that lung cancer will be the leading cause of death for both females and males. It's for these reasons that it's crucial that the government continue its stance to minimise and, where it can, avoid preventable death and disability in Australia.

Quitting smoking, as we know, is one of the most positive actions that anyone can take for themselves and for their family's health. Tobacco smoking continues to be the leading because of preventable death and disability. In 2017 alone, there were 19,000 deaths—I think I've used that 19,000 three times now; it is a very important statistic.

The Morrison coalition government continues to sustain world-leading antismoking initiatives. We do not have a one-method approach; we embrace a suite of methods to minimise preventable illness in Australia as a result of smoking, and one of those methods is plain packaging. There are others: those health warnings and the numerous health marketing campaigns.

This particular amendment is an extension and a continuation of our good work in that health sector. It's important to note that the amendment that's before us tonight and the continuation of the plain-packaging laws under this government are not the only means of ensuring that we minimise and avoid preventable illness in Australia. They are only one part of the suite of products.

Health awareness and cognisance campaigns, such as the recent Don't Make Smokes Your Story campaign have contributed significantly to reducing the smoking rates over the last few years. Other coalition government awareness campaigns, which have been reported to be extremely successful, include the Quit For You, Quit For Two campaign. This campaign targeted pregnant women and those planning to have children and their partners. The campaign provided information about the health harms associated with smoking during pregnancy and the support available to women on their journey to quit smoking.

We don't stop here. The coalition government has been taking a far more targeted approach, continuing our commitment to minimise preventable illness in Australia. Advertisements were developed for culturally and linguistically diverse communities and diverse audiences to ensure that that message is tailored for specific communities. Translated versions of health warnings were developed for Arabic; Chinese, both Mandarin and Cantonese; Korean; and Vietnamese audiences and specifically focused on smokers between the ages of 18 and 40 years.

In 2017, statistics for the number of daily smokers aged 18 and over was 14.7 per cent nationally. This was a decrease from 16.3 per cent in 2007 and 22.3 per cent in 2001. It's an illustration that our health measures are working. On 6 May 2018, the government announced new budget measures to tackle the illicit tobacco trade. The government has introduced a comprehensive new framework to provide the Australian Border Force and the Australian Taxation Office, the ATO, with strengthened enforcement measures and additional resources to deter those who profit from illicit tobacco. The excise increases announced in the 2015-16 budget were firmly based on the evidence that they too will help further reduce smoking.

The panel report concerning Australia's tobacco plain-packaging measure was published on 28 June this year, and all substantive findings were in favour of this program in Australia. The department has reviewed its enforcement policy for undertaking compliance and enforcement activities under the Tobacco Plain Packaging Act 2011 and released that update in May this year.

The findings from a new Australian study found that major health and productivity gains could be achieved from further tobacco control measures in Australia. The study, in fact, predicted that smoking was estimated to result in an excess of 400,000 deaths among Australians currently between the ages of 20 and 69, who are followed up to the age of 70. This equated to a loss of more than three million years of life over the productive working age of current Australian smokers and $388 billion lost in GDP.

Ongoing tobacco interventions are critical to ensuring that the prevalence of smoking in Australia continues to decline. Evidence from Australia and from overseas shows that when tobacco control efforts stall, so does the decline in smoking prevalence. It is incorrect to assume that the rate of reduction of smoking prevalence can be maintained without consistent and additional tobacco control efforts.

For much of today and last week, we debated the black economy. The black economy is certainly not absent from a discussion about tobacco. The Department of Health has policy responsibility for illicit tobacco in relation to its work under the World Health Organization framework, the development of the National Tobacco Strategy and broadly in its work to reduce smoking prevalence rates. The department has recognised issues that extend beyond health and is proactively engaging with other agencies on this issue of illicit tobacco to increase cooperation and collaboration. The department is also concerned about the illicit trade in tobacco products because it impacts directly on the effectiveness of price-based public health policies aimed at decreasing smoking rates. And smokers accessing illicit products may not benefit from other public health measures, including such things as tobacco plain packaging and those graphic health warnings.

As I detailed earlier, tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable death. Australia is a world leader in this particular field, and tobacco plain packaging is an important element of our control measures. Under the Tobacco Plain Packaging Act 2011, plain packaging compliance and enforcement activities are undertaken by 'authorised officers'. Authorised officers must be persons appointed or engaged under the Public Service Act 1999, or a member or special member of the Australian Federal Police. A person appointed as an authorised officer is appointed in writing by the secretary of the Department of Health. This bill aims to expand the range of persons that can be appointed as officers. It will allow the secretary to appoint Commonwealth officers not appointed or engaged under the Public Service Act 1999, state and territory police officers, and state and territory officers and local government officials with responsibilities in relation to health matters or tobacco control, compliance and enforcement. It doesn't necessarily change the plain packaging requirements and won't impact the obligations of tobacco manufacturers, distributors or retailers.

As someone who was originally opposed to the plain packaging legislation, which passed before my time in the Senate, I can say that since my initial opposition I have become confident that regulation in this area has benefits and that there is in fact a case for it. I recommend this bill to the chamber.