John Faulkner (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Cancer Council of Australia and the Heart Foundation have advised that tobacco kills over 15,000 Australians each year and five million worldwide and is widely recognised as the single largest preventable cause of illness and premature death in Australia. The adverse effects of smoking on a smoker's health are proven and well documented. As I have said before in this chamber, cigarettes are poisonous. Smoking will damage your health. Smoking is likely to kill you.

The government's world-first tobacco plain-packaging laws are a significant step in reducing the impact of these poisonous products on the health and wellbeing of all Australians. Our plain-packaging legislation has elevated Australia to a position of global leadership in the field of tobacco control. We are setting a global precedent that has big tobacco shaking in their boots—and that is something we can all be proud of.

There is still more we can do for the health and wellbeing of Australians and to consolidate our global leadership and very strong reputation in the field of tobacco control. Smoking in movies by actors with youth appeal continues to promote positive images of tobacco products to young people and children. It is now widely accepted that these images are a significant risk factor for smoking initiation among adolescents. The World Health Organisation have pointed to studies that show 'smoking in movies misleads youth into thinking that tobacco use is normal, acceptable, socially beneficial and more common than it really is'. These studies also show that 'such movies rarely portray the harm of tobacco, instead portraying the product as conducive of a cool and glamorous lifestyle'. In March this year the US Surgeon General report Preventing tobacco use among youth and young adults stated:

In 2010, nearly a third of top-grossing youth-rated movies—those with G, PG, or PG-13 ratings—contained images of tobacco use.

Teens and young adults are sensitive to what they see and hear in the world around them. If they are exposed to images that portray smokers as cool, attractive, rebellious, fun-loving, risk-taking, or other characteristics they admire, young people may want to smoke, too.

The report finishes by stating:

The evidence is sufficient to conclude that there is a causal relationship between depictions of smoking in movies and the initiation of smoking among young people.

The Australian Medical Association, in its 2008 study Take smoking out of kid's movies, found that 70 per cent of top box office films contained depictions of smoking, including 75 per cent of most PG rated films. In my view, it is unacceptable that we continue to allow images that may promote smoking in films and television. This runs the risk of shaping the views of young people and potentially may lead to them taking up these deadly products.

International instruments underpin our commitment to providing Australians the highest standard of health and wellbeing. Australia is a signatory of the World Health Organisation Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. Article 13 of the treaty recognises that a comprehensive ban on advertising, promotion, and sponsorship would reduce the consumption of tobacco products and that each party shall, in accordance with its constitution or constitu­tional principles, undertake a comprehensive ban of all tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship.

The rest of the world is moving in the direction of cutting out or reducing portrayals of tobacco products and smoking in movies. In November last year, the Indian government introduced measures to reduce portrayals of smoking in its multibillion-dollar Hindi cinema or Bollywood movie industry. These measures include film and television programs in India being required to 'justify' smoking content to the Central Board of Film Certification, display on-screen warnings, be screened at times when minors are least likely to be watching and carry a classification one step short of an adult rating. The Indian government has recognised that Hindi cinema plays a key role in influencing young people's beliefs and behaviours in relation to social norms for smoking and it has taken action. So can we in Australia.

Any reasonable person would acknowledge that the Australian government plays an active role in reducing smoking in Australia—as it should. Over past decades we have seen bans on advertising for cigarettes and tobacco products, bans on smoking in public places, quit services promoted and a myriad of programs designed to limit the marketing and prevalence of cigarettes in our community. As recently as last night in the budget the government announced a new measure to help combat smoking: duty-free cigarettes will be reduced from 250 cigarettes per passenger to just 50 cigarettes per passenger. I very much welcome that measure.

Some of the antismoking regulations in this country are among the toughest in the world. However, I am concerned that, while we may be trailblazers on the plain packaging and other fronts, we do slip behind the worldwide standard for smoking in movies. I am concerned that the Australian government might inadvertently provide incentives that allow people to make movies that propagate the smoking message.

The Australian government provides generous tax incentives for film, television and other screen production in Australia. In 2010-11 the government provided some $145 million in tax offsets to screen producers. The producer offset encourages the production of Australian film and television projects and is administered by Screen Australia. The producer offset can provide up to 40 per cent of qualifying Australian production expenditure for a feature film. It can provide funding for goods and services provided in Australia for the making of a film, the use of land located in Australia for the making of a film and the use of goods that are located in Australia at the time they are used in the making of a film. In 2010-11, the Australian government provided $87 million for filmmakers under this scheme.

The location offset is a 16.5 per cent rebate which supports the production of large-budget film and television projects shot in Australia. A film's qualifying Australian production expenditure must be at least $15 million, and at least 70 per cent of any eligible film's total production costs must occur in Australia. For example, Minister Crean recently announced a $12.8 million investment to the makers of The Wolverine, an investment which the Australian economy will see returned in spades. The Wolverine will inject $80 million into the Australian film and production industry and will create over 2,000 local jobs.

The PDV offset, a 30 per cent rebate, supports postproduction works and digital and visual effects production, PDV, in Australia, regardless of where a project is shot. This includes animatronics, audio special effects, music composition and recording, models or miniatures, and editing. There must be a minimum PDV expenditure in Australia of $5 million.

I believe it is now time for the government to consider the introduction of conditions to be applied about the smoking content of any production before government funding is provided. It is also time to seriously investigate the application of such constraints to overseas productions filmed in Australia. Classification is also worthy of exploration. The 2009 World Health Organisation report Smoke-free movies: from evidence to action suggested that all future movies with scenes of smoking should be given an adult rating, with the possible exception of movies that reflect the dangers of smoking use or that depict a figure from history who smoked.

The Cancer Council, in their last position paper in 2007, pointed to the benefits of international regulations such as the inclusion of a requirement for all movie credits to include certification of no pay-offs or 'no inducements' and the banning of tobacco brand depictions in movies. The Cancer Council have also suggested counteradvertising, such as the use of control advertisements, as an effective measure to counter smoking in movies. Control advertisements would be played immediately after or before a movie that depicts smoking in either cinema or DVD format. An ideal outcome would be for the film and media industry to be part of the movement to remove portrayals of smoking in movies and the media. I note that several commercially successful films such as The Devil Wears Prada, Casino Royale and The Hangover do not portray tobacco or tobacco related products.

Labor governments have actively targeted tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship in an attempt to improve the health and wellbeing of all Australians. I applaud the government for that. I applaud the government for its world-first tobacco plain-packaging laws, and I want to say in this debate on matters of public interest that I intend to encourage the government to take even more action in the areas that I have outlined to eradicate these insidious and deadly products from the lives of all Australians.