Helen Polley (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Vaping is a scourge on our society. In my youth, tobacco smoking was much the same. So many teenagers took it up, being unaware of the health risks. They got addicted, due to the nicotine content, and they ended up with cancer or other terrifying conditions as a result. The Gillard Labor government were serious about tackling this problem. They enacted legislation to prevent smoking in Australia, through the Tobacco Plain Packaging Act 2011. This act enabled the change of cigarette packaging to include graphic images of the results of smoking, as well as a harsh olive-green colour scheme. A few years later, the Cancer Council Australia found that there was at least a 25 per cent decrease in smoking rates in Australia between 2012 and 2015. This is what Labor stands for: protecting Australians against harmful practices which put them at risk.

Tobacco smoking did not need a successor, but, unfortunately, there is much greed and evil from manufacturing in our society, and thus vaping was born. Vaping, ironically, was very much intended to be a method for assisting with quitting tobacco smoking. However, it has had results far from the original ambition. The ease of accessibility to vapes, combined with the marketing targeted to youth, has resulted in the same situation that I mentioned was the case in my early years: a generation of Australians are addicted to nicotine.

Vaping products are often packaged with cartoons and bright colours and flavours such as strawberry milkshake, lush blackberry et cetera. And then they're wickedly sold to youth, to whom they appeal. Nicotine itself, while being highly addictive, is not the direct cause of the aforementioned health issues. Instead, it's the filler materials which smoking implements, such as cigarettes and cigars, are packaged with; examples include arsenic, acetone and butane. The same is true for vapes. Despite claims that they merely emit harmless water vapour, vapes contain oils which can stick to the insides of our lungs, potentially causing pneumonia and other significant health issues.

Aside from vapes which are prescribed by a doctor for the purpose of quitting smoking—which are different to the vapes sold underground, I might add—the sale by Australian retailers of any e-liquids or vaping products containing nicotine for personal use is now illegal as of 1 October 2021. There are no nicotine vaping products being sold underground which have been approved by the Therapeutic Goods Administration, and they are now classified as dangerous poison under the national poison standard.

There are now countless private and unlawful dealers of vapes who sell to young Australians underground, the same as dealers of other illicit substances. There have been multiple raids on dealers of vaping products, including 40,000 vapes seized in Brisbane two months ago, 25,000 vapes seized in Melbourne four months ago, and a million dollars worth of vapes seized in Melbourne a few weeks ago. The Australian Border Force and the Therapeutic Goods Administration have begun a campaign in the past month to take control of the importation of vaping products. The state and federal police are evidently very serious about tackling this issue. We need to protect vulnerable Australians from the scourge of vaping, and it is absolutely crucial to do our best to ensure that we do not repeat the generation of smokers that was previously the case.

One of the aforementioned raids was spoken about in the media release by the Minister for Health and Aged Care, Minister the Hon. Mark Butler from the other place. The minister spoke of the same concerns I've expressed tonight, stating:

Vaping is a public health menace that is targeting young Australians.

…   …   …

The enormous volume of suspected unlawful vaping products seized in this campaign alone demonstrates the challenges we face in tackling this issue …

The minister went on to say:

The reforms being introduced by the Albanese Government will be pivotal to decreasing vaping rates in Australia and the harm it represents, especially to our young people.

As parents and as family friends, we have to reinforce to the young members of our communities how dangerous vaping is. It is one step away from taking up tobacco smoking, and we know the health issues that have resulted from that bad habit.