Malcolm Roberts (Queensland, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Share this | Hansard source

Let's get to the meat of the question, now that I understand that there is little data to back it up. The committee report makes this statement: 'According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 11 per cent of Australians smoked tobacco daily in 2019, which is a decrease from 12.2 per cent in 2016.' This the same claim the minister made in his second reading speech. However, the 2019 National Drug Strategy Household Survey found that the figure for 'smokes every day' was 12.8 per cent, not 11 per cent—no drop. That data further shows that the figure for people who consider themselves to be a current smoker is 14.7 per cent. This is an increase in smokers, not a decrease. The minister may be using the 2020-021 survey, which does show that figure.

However, the Australian Bureau of Statistics, from which you sourced a minute ago, has a qualification on the 2020-21 data which reads: 'The National Health Survey 2020-21 was collected online during the COVID-19 pandemic'—their word, not mine—'and is a break in time series. Data can't be compared to previous years.' I'm concerned that this bill uses invalid data to justify an expansion of measures introduced by Labor in 2012. The messaging around this bill has a misinformation feel to it. Minister, is the actual rate of smoking in Australia 11 per cent or 12.8 per cent?