Malarndirri McCarthy (NT, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Indigenous Australians) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you for your contribution today, Senator Canavan. We know that these offences are being prosecuted under state law, and the Commonwealth does not interfere in or comment on prosecutions undertaken by the states under state law.

The Australian government is not going to blame those users. The Australian government is not about to attribute blame to people who use these products and have become addicted. This has been a vast act of subterfuge by the tobacco industry, which promoted the development and the marketing of these products for one clear purpose—to recruit a new generation of nicotine addicts.