Personal Explanation

TOBACCO LAW COMPLIANCE

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for Environment and Conservation, Minister for Mental Health and Substance Abuse, Minister Assisting the Minister for Health) (20:22): I seek leave to make a personal explanation regarding tobacco control regulations.

Leave granted.

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: Earlier today I was asked about enforcement of the ban on the sale of fruit-flavoured cigarettes in South Australia, and stated that I understood this ban was enforced in the same way as other tobacco regulations are. As members are aware, the government issued a notice under section 34A of the Tobacco Products Regulation Act 1997, which banned the sale of fruit-flavoured cigarettes in late 2006. That prohibition was operative following the grant of a 12-month exemption from the commonwealth's Mutual Recognition (South Australia) Act 1993.

Whilst the regulation banning fruit-flavoured cigarettes still exists in South Australia, the exemption from the commonwealth's Mutual Recognition Act expired late last year. Exemption from mutual recognition legislation cannot be extended. This means that the regulation cannot be enforced in South Australia until there is agreement with all other jurisdictions.

In May last year, at the request of South Australia, the Ministerial Council on Drug Strategy agreed to support a permanent exemption from the Mutual Recognition Act, and states and territories agreed at that meeting to consider passing complementary legislation to ban the sale of these cigarettes within their jurisdictions. The commonwealth also considered an important ban through the customs legislation; however, to date these matters have not been resolved.

The effort to achieve national consistency is continuing and I am hopeful that it will soon be resolved. Alternatively, I have sought legal advice on how to overcome the technical enforcement difficulties with the ban and may seek to continue the prohibition of these products through other state law mechanisms.