Marielle Smith (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I'm only seeking to make a brief contribution to this debate and I won't be going through all the measures in the bills that have been well covered by Senator Pocock and other senators before me. I just want to say very clearly here today that the bills before us are about saving lives. Tobacco kills. We have known this fact for so long. The first warning signs of tobacco and its impact emerged in the 1600s and it was around 100 years ago that the link between lung cancer and smoking first emerged. Yet despite all that we have known for so long, tobacco remains our country's leading cause of preventable death and disability, killing an estimated 20,000 Australians each year. Despite all we know, smoking rates remain too high in our community for a range of reasons. They are too high for members of our community who cannot afford the costs and the impacts of tobacco smoking and nicotine addiction. Despite having been regulatory leaders around the world under the previous Labor government, now our regulatory framework for tobacco simply isn't keeping up and, on top of that, the regulatory framework is messy.

Our current tobacco related measures are split across as many as eight different laws, regulations, instruments and court decisions. The government's own legislation prohibiting certain forms of tobacco advertising is now 30 years old. But worst of all, our current framework is lacking in ambition. This bill advances the reform agenda Nicola Roxon championed a decade ago but which was left to fall to the wayside by the former government, a reform agenda that was dubbed by then shadow health minister Mr Peter Dutton as a bridge too far. The reforms weren't a bridge too far; they were courageous and visionary reforms and an example of where bold policy reform cannot only improve lives but save them and where Australia can lead the world.

Since then, 26 countries have followed Australia's example. It is now time to catch up. It is now time to go further. This is a matter of life and death. We must reduce uptake of smoking, particularly among young people. Quitting is bloody hard. I know just how hard it is and I don't want a single young person in our country to ever have to go through that. They shouldn't be going through that given all we know. These reforms matter and, like with any progressive change, there are going to be some loud voices opposing what we want to do. We have already seen it in the committee inquiry into this bill, which I chaired.

The evidence we received as a committee was overwhelmingly clear and obvious. There was a huge support from public health experts, stakeholders and advocates for the measures contained in these bills, because these are no-brainers. The harm caused by tobacco is as obvious as it is devastating and it is this harm that we are trying to address with these bills. But there was some opposition and it came from exactly where you would expect to find it—the tobacco industry and those they work so closely with. At this point I want to make it absolutely clear that the behaviour on display by some witnesses throughout the course of our inquiry was unacceptable to our committee and it was unacceptable to me as chair. Two witnesses in particular showed what I believe to be a blatant disregard for transparency and for the Senate committee process, not to mention a lack of understanding of Australia's obligations under article 5.3 of the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.

The Australian Association of Convenience Stores and Master Grocers Australia failed to answer questions put by me and by Senator Pocock regarding their conflicts of interest despite being told that this would be requested of them immediately prior to their attendance at one of our public hearings. As we have outlined in our report, our committee considers the refusal by witnesses to answer these questions in full coupled with their apparent lack of understanding of article 5.3 deeply concerning. Transparency is essential to our work in legislative scrutiny. I can assure such groups that our committee will be taking these issues very, very seriously when it comes to any future legislative review we may be undertaking in this space. I am sure there will be much more work in this space because this is a matter of life and death. Australia has been a world leader in tobacco regulation and reform before. Under the Albanese Labor government we will be world leaders again. I commend these bills to the Senate.