Maria Kovacic (NSW, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

The most concerning matter in relation to this bill is, by far, the prolific nature of children vaping. That should be the primary concern of all of us, of government, ensuring that our vulnerable children are not subjected to the addiction to nicotine at such a young age. I'm not talking about teenage kids who are no less of a concern; I'm talking about primary school aged children who are 10 and 11 years old.

The biggest factor in allowing children to vape and access vaping products is the proliferation of the black market. We already have a prolific illegal market for these substances, and that's because these bans don't work. Senator Shoebridge talked about looking at the evidence. Globally, the evidence clearly shows that the bans do not work. That is clear on every metric: the scale of the black markets, the rates of vaping amongst children and the fact that the vast majority of adult vapers are using a vape acquired from the black market, not a prescription vape from their pharmacy. These are otherwise everyday, law-abiding Australians accessing vapes on the black market. Australia has been isolated in this approach. Quite simply, it is not an approach that we see anywhere else in the comparable world, and that's because it doesn't work.

It's a good thing that the government has changed some of their policy in recognition of the fact that their former policy was not going to work at all. Perhaps they should've taken care and more time in the formation of the bill initially and not rushed it, as seems to be their general practice. But their solution, that will now see community pharmacies turned into vape shops, isn't a great deal better, and I don't think it is something that anybody wants to see. I don't want to see it. The Pharmacy Guild doesn't want to see it. I don't think our local community pharmacies want to be selling and disposing of vapes. And I really don't think everyday Australians want to see that. But under this agreement between the government and the Greens, not only do pharmacies get to sell vapes but they also get to be the avenue—the disposal network—for vapes, too. How is that going to work? On the one hand, we go there for medical care, for treatment and for understanding around best practice, and on the other they will be a disposal place for vapes. For those wanting to quit smoking by moving on to vapes as a smoking-cessation tool, it is better to have those vapes available to them at the places they typically buy cigarettes, surely—not at the pharmacy. The commonsense solution would be to have them at the same place where they buy cigarettes so they can actually make that active choice: I won't buy that, I'll buy this.

The Therapeutic Goods and Other Legislation Amendment (Vaping Reforms) Bill looks to ban the importation, domestic manufacture and supply of non-therapeutic, disposable, single-use vapes while preserving patient access to therapeutic vapes for smoking cessation and management of nicotine dependence where clinically appropriate. The bill will mainly impact the sale and supply of non-nicotine vaping products. Vapes containing nicotine are already subject to restrictions under the Poisons Standard classification. However, the problem is that the vapes that are targeted at children are advertised as being nicotine-free, and they have nicotine in them. This is despite a ban, further highlighting that the ban does not work.

The bill makes two important changes which the coalition supports. Firstly, it doesn't allow the sale of predatory and dangerous single-use disposable vaping products which are targeted to children and contain nicotine. Secondly, it creates one single framework under the TGA for the regulation of vaping products, regardless of the nicotine content. We have been clear from the get-go that our priority is to protect Australian children from the harms of vaping, and in line with that priority we do not stand in the way of those measures. No-one wants to see Australian children vaping. No-one wants to see Australian children become addicted to vaping. Nobody wants to see Australian children addicted to nicotine. But kids are being targeted by a thriving and dangerous black market. Our primary focus in this area is preventing children from getting access to these products. We are focused on stamping out the organised-crime-driven black market that is supplying these illegal vapes to children.

Right now, it is illegal to buy a nicotine vape without a prescription. It has always been illegal to sell a vape to any child under 18, yet kids are still getting ready access to flavoured vapes in coloured packaging. I have some stats here on it. It is illegal. Despite it being illegal, the latest National Drug Strategy Household Survey found one in 10 Australians under 18 are vapers. This is a fourfold increase since 2019. In Victoria alone, the black market for vapes has been valued at up to $500 million, and this is despite it being illegal.

Australians, including children, are getting ready access to illegal vapes in every state and territory because the law is not being adequately or consistently enforced. It is clear that the current medical model is failing, with only around 10 per cent of current vapers purchasing their product legally through prescriptions. The TGA has acknowledged that the medical model has not achieved its goals. Entrenching the existing failing medical model will not prevent children from having access to vaping products and will further drive the sale of these product to the black market. Labor's prohibition-style approach will play straight into the hands of organised crime syndicates, who are massively profiting from the sale of illegal vapes and the sale of vapes to our children.

We have announced that, if elected, we will take an alternative approach to the government's and crack down on this organised crime that has been allowed to thrive, and we will act to protect Australian children. A coalition government will introduce a strictly regulated retail model for vaping products under the TGA to put a stop to dodgy retailers selling vapes to Australian children with impunity through the rampant black market. This model will include a licensing scheme, prevention campaigns and strong enforcement efforts as part of a sensible approach to keep money out of the hands of criminals while stopping the sale of vapes to children. Our regulated approach will also address the dangerous and unknown chemicals contained in illegal vapes by placing strict requirements on safety and quality—again, noting that many of these single-use vapes that are targeted at children contain very high levels of nicotine, causing nicotine addiction in our children.

By bringing Australia in line with European countries, a regulated model is in the best interests of both public health outcomes and law enforcement. If we are really serious about protecting our children from vaping then we have to be serious about enforcement. That is why the coalition will also provide 10 times more funding towards law enforcement than the government has through a new $250 million law enforcement package. I mean, let's be serious. The government's package of $25 million of law enforcement for vaping is so grossly inadequate it's almost comical. Our $250 million of funding will be used to stand up an illegal tobacco and vaping taskforce, led by the Australian Federal Police and the Australian Border Force, to tackle illegal vapes from the border to the shopfront. It will provide desperately needed Commonwealth leadership to crack down on organised criminal activity and protect our children.

Our coalition has the strength to be honest with the Australian public. The government's senseless and chaotic approach will not protect the health of young Australians who are already buying illicit vaping products. The government's failure to control the illicit vaping market and its failure to protect our children against the proliferation of vaping products mean that greater scrutiny is absolutely essential. It would be completely irresponsible not to demand further investigation into these issues as they evolve. We did this via a Senate inquiry and we should continue to monitor it.

Submissions to the inquiry were provided by a wide range of stakeholders and raised some really significant concerns. Notably, the inquiry highlighted how the illicit vaping black market is out of control and thriving in Australia. We heard evidence through this process that reiterated our concerns that entrenching the failed prescription-only model will not prevent children from having access to vaping products and will further drive the sale of these products to the black market. That is why it is clear that regulating the vaping market through strict and sensible retail based policies will protect our children from the harms of vaping and will protect our community from organised crime.

The Albanese Labor government sought to pass the Public Health (Tobacco and Other Products) Bill last year without addressing this thriving illicit tobacco trade. Why? The news is filled with stories of firebombings of cigarette stores and convenience stores as a result of this black market. In a clear acknowledgement of their lack of action on enforcement, the government supported the coalition's amendment to establish a new illicit tobacco and e-cigarette commissioner within the Australian Border Force. The coalition welcomed the government's decision to support our amendment and our leadership to protect Australians from the growing black market in both illicit tobacco and illicit vapes. The commissioner would support developing and implementing strategies for addressing those illicit substances and enforcing existing regulations. We called on the government to act quickly to set up the commissioner and adequately address the tobacco black market. However, it is clear that the government have failed to do so. They must tell us whether any meaningful work has been done to establish this critically important commission.

I would like to finalise my comments with some quotes from the vaping inquiry that I and Senator Cadell sat on. The committee heard evidence relating to consumer and community safety. We heard that according to the Office of Impact Analysis's Proposed reforms to the regulation of vapes: Impact analysis, the number of adults who have a nicotine prescription for vapes is as low as three per cent, indicating that as many as 97 per cent of adult vapers are purchasing unregulated products. During my exchange with from the fields Pharmaceutical, Mr David said:

You just need to look at the numbers. Today there are anywhere from one to 1.7 million adults who are vaping … Unfortunately, their access point has been through unregulated illegal products, which are far more dangerous than regulated products.

The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners stated Australia is the only country in the world to restrict access to nicotine vaping products on a prescription-only basis. Despite the Australian government being a global outlier, there has been a dramatic increase in youth vaping under this policy.