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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2023-05-18 Daily Xml
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Bills

Tobacco and E-Cigarette Products (Tobacco Product Prohibitions) Amendment Bill

Second Reading

Adjourned debate on second reading (resumed on motion).

Mr FULBROOK (Playford) (15:34): It is flattering that so many of you could come back to hear me speak. As I was saying before we adjourned, even the much-maligned tobacco companies have reason to be frustrated and seen as losers under the circumstances that I described earlier. We can chastise them as much as we like, but it is fair to point out that, though their antics may be questionable, at face value they are at least acting legally. This is more than you can say about those caught up in the illicit trade of these products.

When you divide what the community misses out on in revenue with the $14.3 billion collected, it gives some idea of the broad problem this is and paints a picture of how the illicit market is booming. Missed revenue to the tune of $1.9 billion buys a lot of goods and services we could all use within our community.

When we talk of illicit tobacco, we refer to products sold without branding, contraband produced by legitimate manufacturers where no local taxation has been levied, and also counterfeit products. Up until now, the battle to tackle illicit tobacco has been a fight almost exclusively undertaken by the commonwealth. If we get this bill passed, I am pleased to say that South Australia will be joining these efforts. With similar laws now in place in New South Wales and Victoria, it is great to see momentum building across the states.

Under existing laws, there is limited provision to allow local authorised officers to enforce compliance with the commonwealth laws around the packaging and labelling of tobacco products. This shortcoming means that cases of possible noncompliance must be referred to the commonwealth for enforcement. Changes outlined in this bill will make it illegal to sell tobacco products in South Australia under the same provisions set out in the commonwealth's Tobacco Plain Packaging Act, Customs Act and Excise Act. This will encompass products without appropriate health warnings and will restrict supply or sale of prohibited products and selling products when the required excise duty has not been paid.

If successful, it will mean authorised officers under the South Australian act, such as our police, would have extra powers and incentive to enforce the laws with increased penalties. In her speech to the Legislative Council, the Hon. Ms Bonaros pointed out that under existing laws the current expiation fee sits at $500, with a maximum penalty at $10,000. Her bill, which the Malinauskas government supports, proposes an expiation fee of $1,250 and a maximum penalty of $50,000. This is a significant increase that I hope creates a strong deterrent within our community.

I am potentially showing a sign of my age, but last week I spoke to a 15-year-old student in my electorate who said he was very worried about the rise of vaping amongst his peers. His concerns were genuine, and I hope this is another positive step to minimise underage activity. As I said earlier, prevention is better than cure, as the last thing we want is for vaping to be a distraction for young people in receiving a grounded education.

I have never been a smoker. At maximum, I think I may have touched a cigarette three times in my life. I do recall a misguided foray into sampling snuff in England. It was a painful experience, which was about as enjoyable as spreading mustard up my nostrils. Thankfully, it was unpleasant, as the fact remains that the use of any tobacco product can lead to nicotine addiction. Needless to say, my sampling of tobacco products has been limited, unless you count years of passive smoking as a child.

In painting this picture of limited exposure to the more traditional stuff, I hope I can be forgiven for not initially having firsthand information of what goes into a vape. Ministers Boyer and Picton should be commended for shining a light onto some of the awful stuff going into these products. It is scary to think that items such as nail polish remover, weedkiller and bug spray make it into the mix. While I do not know much about vapes, I know enough about these chemicals to appreciate that anyone consuming this is taking a risk and that ultimately it will not do them any good.

It is worrying that statistics from Drug and Alcohol Services South Australia show a significant increase in vape use amongst young people, with the percentage of 15 to 29 year olds using e-cigarettes being at 7.8 percent in 2022.

While there are still smokers out there, I think that through concerted efforts in the past the tide has turned on the consumption of tobacco. More than anything, education was the key to making this happen. I am sure there is a long race to run, but I am encouraged that SA Health is working with the Department for Education on a range of initiatives for schools, including information for students, teachers, parents and carers on the risks of vaping and the help that is available.

We cannot pretend that nicotine is not a problem until a child turns 18. Nicotine, unfortunately, changes the way the brain works, meaning cravings are just the beginning in adverse effects. Dependency issues will develop at any age, with young people at risk of experiencing difficulties concentrating in class, sleeping and suffering from anxiety, irritability, restlessness, frustration, anger and strong cravings to relieve symptoms with repeat nicotine exposure. This is not the life we want for future generations, which is why every measure we can take, including this piece of legislation, should be thoroughly considered.

In this case, I understand the bill did not originate from a government minister or from the Public Service but, rather, from the crossbenchers in the other place. It has been given due consideration by the Malinauskas government which we believe will go some way to having a positive impact on several fronts. With this in mind, Ms Bonaros from the other place should be congratulated on bringing this bill to the parliament, and I am happy to commend it to the house.

Ms SAVVAS (Newland) (15:41): I am really proud of this bill today, and I think it is an incredibly important one about changing not only the practicality but also the narrative with respect to tobacco and e-cigarette products. I would like to acknowledge the very good work of Connie Bonaros for working hand in hand with the government to truly address the issues that relate to illicit tobacco and e-cigarette products here in South Australia.

All of us in this place, even young me, surprisingly, have seen significant changes with respect to government regulation relating to tobacco over many years. The member for Playford referred to experiences of passive smoking as a child, which I am sure lots of us had, and I remember all too well, as my grandparents and my parents were smokers, when plain packaging came in and what that meant for a change in supermarket shops and also, of course, when those plain package cigarettes then went behind a locked cabinet.

I also remember when legislation came in with respect to smoking in cars with minors, and what a win that was for us young passive smokers at the time as well, and also changes to smoking at restaurants and outside on the streets. This bill is another piece of work that will assist in furthering not only those important, life-saving initiatives but also those initiatives to change the narrative, as I said before.

Smoking remains the leading preventable cause of death and disease in Australia still to this day. Two of my own relatives have died from emphysema, and I am sure that there are a number of people in this place who have relatives and friends or know people who have seen the impacts of smoking firsthand, particularly those quite devastating impacts on those who eventually pass from smoking-related diseases.

It has been drilled into me from a very young age that the easiest way to quit smoking is to never start. I do believe that we have an obligation to do what we can to ensure that tobacco and e-cigarette products are regulated and regulated properly, not just for the generation that may be smoking now but for the generations after them—changing that narrative and the storyline that go with what smoking is and whether smoking is seen to be cool and/or accepted and supported by regular groups or the majority of groups in society.

We know that public health measures have had an enormous impact on smoking prevalence in South Australia and nationally.

I often speak fondly of visiting Canberra, of going to the Museum of Australian Democracy and seeing what I jokingly refer to as the 'Minister Picton display'. That, of course, refers to the plain packaging of cigarettes displayed in the Museum of Australian Democracy. It is presented there as the huge change it was for us as Australians, and what that meant for health reform going forward, and I do think that was an incredible time in our history and did so much to change the narrative around smoking for Australians.

Minister Picton was working in the federal health sphere at the time, so I often joke to him about his display at that museum. I am sure that all the individuals involved in that body of work are very proud and should be rightly proud of the initiatives that were taken to move forward with smoking and health reform for Australians.

This bill refers to illicit tobacco, and that refers to things such as tobacco that is sold without branding, either loose or rolled up into cigarettes. I do note that quite a large number of shops have been found to sell loose cut-up tobacco, which does have a number of names. I asked my teenage brother if he had heard of all the different names for non-branded tobacco and he listed about 15. There are a large number of shops located around Adelaide that do sell that product and, of course, have not until now been subject to the regulations.

The bill also refers to contraband cigarettes that have not had excise, customs duty or GST paid on it and to counterfeit cigarettes produced to appear like those produced by registered manufacturers. I have heard stories of counterfeit cigarettes that are branded per the old-style branding of particular brands to entice people with a bit of a nostalgia element to the old-school cigarette packets, but they are not in fact that brand and of course not abiding by the plain packaging regulations as well.

It is also important to note when looking at this bill that the existing South Australian laws do not actually allow for compliance to be enforced with the commonwealth laws around packaging and labelling of tobacco products and therefore require the compliance officers to refer on those cases, particularly those cases of noncompliance to the relevant commonwealth government enforcement authorities. This is a really important move to bring us into line with some other states, and with those commonwealth mechanisms as well.

By amending the South Australian Tobacco and E-Cigarette Products Act, this bill will prohibit the supply or sale of tobacco products that do not meet the requirements of the 2011 act, which includes health warnings. It will also prohibit those products that have not had the required excise duty paid, and it will give those authorised officers, as I mentioned before—but including our police as well—extra powers and incentive to enforce the law with increased penalties, which is of course another incentive to reduce this trade here in SA.

I understand that the majority of these approaches have been bipartisan, and I do want to acknowledge the work—hand in hand with the government again—of Ms Bonaros in the other place. We have brought in or committed a number of initiatives to ensure better health outcomes for South Australians to reduce smoking.

The government committed to providing $400,000 to the Cancer Council to fund a Tackling Tobacco pilot program. The government also has a commitment to reduce tobacco and e-cigarette use, and that is outlined in the South Australia Tobacco Control Strategy, which was launched just a few weeks ago.

We do know that the nature of smoking is changing and that it is just as important, if not more important—as it is often a gateway cigarette—to tackle e-cigarette use, particularly for younger generations as well. The strategy includes a range of programs and initiatives to drive down the prevalence of smoking in South Australians aged 15 and over and that is a really ambitious target. It is the most ambitious target in the country: to reduce that by 6 per cent by 2027.

As the older sister of two teenagers, and also the cousin of countless teenagers, I was incredibly pleased to see that the vaping campaign has commenced in schools last week noting again as my mum said, and always says—both to my siblings and to my cousins—the best way to stop an addiction to anything is to never commence that addiction in the first place. I do think it is so important to be raising awareness of the effects of smoking and vaping to young people, particularly noting the prevalence of vaping in schools and for school-age students.

I think it is really important to acknowledge here that where there have been incidents and reports of antisocial behaviour by students within schools over the past year or two, a lot of those incidents have coincided with vaping in toilets or vaping in schools. I think it is really important to actually acknowledge the way that vaping is existing as endemic within our school system, particularly around the year 9 and 10 age bracket where a lot of those students are accessing it at school and, obviously, are continuing to access it at home.

The new campaign is being rolled out across South Australian schools, aiming to teach our young people about the harms of vaping. There are harms in vaping. I think a lot of those students are misinformed in the belief that it somehow is a safe way to be smoking, which is, of course, not necessarily the case. It is crucial that we are proactive in addressing this issue, particularly the vaping in schools, and to respond with the best resources and education in a preventative manner.

One of the key actions in that strategy was a consultation period on how we should best address and introduce new smoke-free and vape-free laws in outdoor public areas. The proposed new laws would actually ban smoking and vaping in the following areas, which I do think are really, really important: firstly, within 10 metres of children's education and childcare centres, which is incredibly important for the growth and health of our young people and, secondly, within five metres of non-residential building entrances at public hospitals and health facilities, including aged-care facilities, and within five metres of their boundaries. Again, this is incredibly important, particularly for those who are already struggling with respiratory illnesses and the like.

I do remember when one of my grandparents, who I mentioned before, was suffering from emphysema we took him out for a walk when he was incredibly unwell. As soon as we opened the hospital doors there was someone smoking right at the door of the hospital. What that meant for him was basically that we had to return to his room because he was unwell and coughing and not able to go on the walk with the family that we had been planning in his final weeks.

There is also banning at outdoor public swimming facilities, at major sports events and facilities and at or within 10 metres of playing and viewing areas during organised under-18 sporting events—so local community sporting events—and on beaches within 50 metres of patrol flags and under and within five metres of jetties. Again, I think this is incredibly important and further assists in changing attitudes towards smoking. I think that is a really important part of this bill—about not just the preventative or the health aspects but the way that it changes attitudes and changes that narrative towards smoking and smoking culture.

The simple fact of allowing individuals to smoke at major sport events or at local sport events for young students has not only health implications but, of course, it has social implications. Attitudes must change towards smoking and vaping, and we must ensure that we do not normalise it. I think that this really does send a message towards what we are seeking for our young people and the way that we would like that narrative to move in the future.

I think it is already really interesting to look at the way that that narrative has changed over just a generation or two. In my generation, going through school, smoking was certainly not seen as cool, but I know that even in the last few years (talking to my cousins and my siblings going through high school) that vaping is well and truly back on the agenda as something that is cool to do. I think that just shows how quickly those attitudes can change and also how quickly those popular fads can start to exist and start to permeate the consciousness of young students.

When I think of smoking, I often think of the way that Mad Men, one of my favourite shows, portrayed smoking and also the way that brands like Marlboro and Lucky Strike were marketed at that time. You could really see the immediate impacts of that marketing—people were smoking at work, smoking in restaurants, smoking in cabs, smoking before someone arrives for a date, and that was both male and female.

There are lots of images in shows like that, where you see the person at the reception desk sitting there smoking as she answers the phone. I think it is really important to think about how far we have come in a relatively short period of time and the way that that narrative has changed and the implications for our health.

We are also proposing to outlaw cigarette vending machines in licensed venues and increase penalties for selling to minors, which I guess for me is probably one of the most important aspects of this, because there is a proposal to double penalties for the sale or supply of tobacco products to children. Again, the easiest way to quit is to never start and changing those attitudes from an early age is so incredibly important.

There is also the first government-funded program of its kind in Australia to offer incentives to quit smoking. As so many would know, quitting smoking is incredibly difficult for lots of people, even those who have the best intentions. South Australians will be offered financial incentives, such as supermarket vouchers and the like to quit smoking and vaping, as part of a groundbreaking trial in the northern suburbs.

It aims to support people to give up smoking and e-cigarettes and to improve their health in the long run. I am incredibly interested to see how that plays out. I do not believe that that area intercepts with my own community, but I do think that the implications and the research that comes from that will be really significant in discovering and deciding the best way to go forward with smoking and vaping initiatives in the future.

The federal government has also announced a range of national initiatives to address e-cigarette use which our government fully supports. SA Health will continue to work with the federal government and interstate jurisdictions to strengthen the e-cigarette laws and their enforcement. That includes things like banning the importation of non-prescription e-cigarettes, regulating flavours, colours and other ingredients, requiring those health warnings and pharmaceutical-like packaging, reducing the allowed nicotine concentrations and volumes and the like, as well as funding public campaigns to assist Australians to help quit smoking and vaping, and continuing those programs to assist with prevention, particularly for young people as well.

I do think this is a really incredible piece of work and a really important one moving forward to change those attitudes and I am very happy to be supporting the bill today.

Ms THOMPSON (Davenport) (15:57): I, too, rise to support the Tobacco and E-Cigarette Products (Tobacco Product Prohibitions) Amendment Bill. As we have heard today, smoking remains the leading preventable cause of death and disease in Australia. It is responsible for more than 20,000 deaths annually and, as we have known for many decades now, increases the risk of various health conditions including lung cancer, heart disease, stroke and many, many more.

We also know that smoking not only impacts public health but also imposes a significant economic burden. According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, tobacco use costs the nation more than $136 billion each year. While our government both nationally and here in South Australia has already made good progress in reducing smoking over the years, there are still significant challenges and opportunities ahead.

We need to be significantly reducing tobacco-related death and disease. Currently the laws in our state do not allow for South Australian authorised officers to enforce compliance with the federal laws around packaging and labelling of tobacco products. They instead need to refer cases of possible non-compliance to the relevant commonwealth government enforcement authority.

This amendment bill will prohibit the supply or sale of tobacco products in South Australia that do not meet the requirements of the commonwealth Tobacco Plain Packaging Act 2011 and prohibit the supply or sale of tobacco products that are prohibited goods or have not had the required excise duty paid as per commonwealth customs and excise acts. This bill will also give authorised officers extra powers and incentives to enforce the law with increased penalties and a view to addressing this illegal trade here in South Australia.

The Malinauskas government is committed to ensuring better health outcomes for South Australians, and an important element of this commitment is to see a reduction in smoking. The South Australian Tobacco Control Strategy 2023-2027 released last month outlines our government's commitment to reducing tobacco smoking and e-cigarette use to improve the health and wellbeing of South Australians. I am proud to be part of a government that has set the most ambitious targets in this country.

Our strategy sets a goal to drive down the prevalence of smoking in South Australians aged 15 and over, from 9.8 per cent in 2021 to 6 per cent in 2027. Our state strategy also declares a vision for South Australia to have the lowest rate of smoking nationally for both the general population and prevalence groups as well as the lowest rate of e-cigarette use amongst young people.

It is terrifying how popular vaping is becoming with young people. My daughter is 11 years old and in grade 6 at primary school, and she knows kids in her class who are vaping. I have seen the videos circulated on social media and, put bluntly, they are horrifying. A survey of 13 to 19 year olds by South Australia's Commissioner for Children and Young People in 2022 found that two in three young people had tried vaping, with almost one in four describing themselves as a regular vaper. Just as they did with smoking, big tobacco has taken another addictive product, wrapped it in colourful packaging and added flavours attractive to kids to create a whole new generation of nicotine addicts.

Last week, the Minister for Health and Wellbeing, the Hon. Chris Picton, along with the Minister for Education, the Hon. Blair Boyer, and the Chief Public Health Officer, Professor Nicola Spurrier, launched our government's campaign to curb the prevalence of vaping amongst young people. This campaign will see educational materials displayed in all public high schools in South Australia, warning students of the dangers associated with vaping.

I know this news will be warmly received by parents and guardians of high school-age children in my electorate, and some primary school-age children, sadly—many of whom have contacted me with their concerns about vaping in our schools. The campaign will also draw the attention of students to the supports currently available to them, including programs run by Encounter Youth, the organisation responsible for the ever reliable Green Team, and Life Education SA.

Delivery of these programs is supported by $2.25 million in funding, as committed to in the Vaping Action Plan. Importantly, this funding will assist Encounter Youth in delivering its programs for free to 60 disadvantaged schools to assist students in breaking their addiction. This targeted support is exactly what schools and educators have called for, including in my own electorate, where schools have investigated installation of expensive vape detecting devices in student toilet facilities.

Some kids who will try vaping think that it is a safe alternative and that there is no risk associated, but we know now that is not the case. Vape contains more than 200 chemicals that do not belong in our lungs, some of the same chemicals you would find in nail polish remover and weedkiller. That is pretty confronting to hear, which is why hard truth messages displaying the harmful substances found in vapes are being shared in materials across all our public high schools right across the state.

A letter from South Australia's Chief Public Health Officer, Professor Nicola Spurrier, is also being sent to parents and carers to inform them of the dangers. Hopefully, educating young people about vapes will stop them from trying e-cigarettes or help them to quit. It is crucial that we are proactive in addressing this issue. Another initiative of the state strategy is to consult with stakeholders on how best to introduce new smoke-free and vape-free laws in outdoor public areas, particularly in areas where young people hang out.

The proposed new launch would ban smoking and vaping in outdoor areas, such as within 10 metres of education and childcare centres, within five metres of non-residential building entrances, at public hospitals and health facilities (which seems to be a no-brainer), within outdoor public swimming facilities, at major sporting events and also young kids' sporting events, on beaches within 50 metres of the red flags, and within five metres of jetties.

We are also proposing to outlaw cigarette vending machines in licensed venues and increase penalties for selling to minors, with the proposal of doubling penalties for the sale or supply of tobacco products to children. The federal Albanese government has also announced a range of initiatives to address e-cigarette use, which our government fully supports. These initiatives will be funded to the tune of $737 million and will support smoking and vaping cessation programs, a commitment to tackling smoking within Indigenous Australian communities and deliver a ban on all single-use and disposable vapes.

SA Health will continue to work with the federal government and interstate jurisdictions to strengthen e-cigarette laws and their enforcement. The initiatives include banning the importation of non-prescription e-cigarettes; regulating flavours, colours and other ingredients; requiring pharmaceutical-like packaging; reducing the allowed nicotine concentrations and volumes; banning disposable e-cigarettes; and funding public awareness campaigns and service enhancements to help Australians to quit smoking and to quit vaping.

I would like to thank the Hon. Connie Bonaros in the other place for her hard work on this legislation and her willingness to work with the government to ensure that this legislation provides robust measures for addressing illicit tobacco in South Australia. In supporting this bill, the government is reaffirming its commitment to reduce smoking and ensuring better health outcomes for South Australia. I commend this bill to the house.

The Hon. D.G. PISONI (Unley) (16:05): I rise to make a contribution to the bill and perhaps talk through the history of smoking and how it has changed from something that was very fashionable and seen as the thing to do. Even during the war, I understand, soldiers were given cigarettes for free because it was supposed to help them feel valued by having access to tobacco products. Then, of course, we saw the glamour of the 1950s and 1960s.

I do not remember my father smoking, but apparently he was a heavy smoker as a new migrant to South Australia, a habit he took up in fashionable Milan, where if you were wearing the right fashion you would also be smoking a cigarette. It was the way the world was back then. He even had a cigarette vending machine in the house that somebody would come and fill up. You put your coins in it when you wanted a new packet of cigarettes, and you would pull them out. I think he was very pleased to start saving money when he decided he was going to give up smoking. It must have happened when I was very young because I do not actually remember seeing him smoke.

What we are seeing with vaping around the world now is what we saw with cigarettes when I was at a vulnerable age and smoking cigarettes was a part of growing up. Even before I hit double figures, I believe, I had started trying the odd cigarette. I remember getting the cane at high school for being caught smoking behind the sport sheds at Salisbury High School. It was something that a lot of people did. Nobody would complain if somebody smoked next to them. Nobody would raise concerns about health and smoking.

There were still cigarette advertisements. I think it was not until the mid-seventies before the cricket was not sponsored by Benson & Hedges. Remember Benson & Hedges? Probably, there would not be many in this chamber who would remember that brand. Dunhill was another sponsor of major sport. These were also sold as very prestigious products—gold packaging or bright red packaging with lovely gold writing on them.

Of course, you had the type of smoker who thought they were elevating themselves in social status by smoking Dunhill or Benson & Hedges and then you had those who did not really care as they just wanted the packet of cigarettes where you could buy 50 for the price of 20. I think Winfield was one of those brands. Paul Hogan made a lot of money out of advertising Winfield cigarettes, both on television and big billboards, when he was at the peak of his comedy career on television.

In the eighties, if you were not a smoker you would smell as though you had been smoking all night if you went to a nightclub because you had no choice. People would smoke in the nightclub and at the bar and you would be breathing that in all day or all night. As the eighties came to an end and the nineties arrived we started to see some changes, some restrictions put on smoking, and then there were these cries about people's rights and liberties being breached: 'How dare you say I can't smoke inside this building. It's an infringement of my freedom.'

They were completely forgetting, of course, the consequences of passive smoking. We are all libertarians in this place, but liberty stops when it affects other people. Your liberty does not override somebody else's liberty. Your ability to do something of your choice is up to you, providing it does not have a negative effect on somebody else.

Consequently, those arguments started happening where people would argue that restrictions on smoking were restrictions on liberty. That is not right because we are actually expanding the liberty of those who wish not to smoke or participate in a smoking environment. There are those who want to go out and not go home stinking of smoke, those who want to go out and not put their health at risk, and those who do not want to have to deal with asthma or manage breathing conditions they have just because they have gone out for a meal.

I think one of the most bizarre things when smoking was commonplace was when planes had smoking and non-smoking areas. In the end I really do not think it mattered where you sat, whether it was at the front or the back of the plane. I think the back of the plane was non-smoking and the front of the plane, in economy, was the smoking area. What was even more bizarre was that on Japanese airlines they had a line down the middle: the left side was non-smoking and the right side was smoking. I am not quite sure how that used to work either.

In 1997, the Brown-Olsen government brought in changes to smoking. Smoking in hotels was restricted. I remember the Hotels Association coming out and saying it would ruin their businesses because their businesses relied on smokers going in to use them. What did we see? We did not see people not going into pubs. We saw people smoking less. We saw fewer people smoking. It was a very strong signal.

We also saw big increases in tobacco excise. Every now and then when you are in a service station, you might be waiting to pay for your petrol and someone ahead of you will be buying a packet of cigarettes. The cigarettes are swiped over the reader and $65 comes up on the screen. You think, 'My God, that is an extraordinary amount of money.' That of course has had a very big impact on the reduction in new people, young people in particular, taking up smoking.

Then, throughout the 2000s, we saw the introduction of e-cigarettes, which were a real novelty in the beginning. People who did not have any medical or science qualifications were online and putting claims up in their shops that this is safer than smoking and will help you give up smoking. There were no prescriptions. Even though the Controlled Substances Act 1984 had nicotine as being illegal to be sold under that act, we saw an industry that got around regulations that were there for like products growing and popping up in shops all around the suburbs.

I remember one on the corner of Opey Avenue and Unley Road that looked as dodgy as hell, selling vapes and cartridges for vapes, opening at different hours of the day with these amazing big signs claiming that this was a health product. I reported that and had some success in forcing those signs to come down, because it simply was not true. It was in breach of the regulations, because you are not allowed to advertise cigarettes, of course. You have not been allowed to do that since 1975 or so.

Then, in 2019, the previous government brought in more changes as we saw the growth of e-cigarettes. It banned the sale and supply of e-cigarette products to any person under the age of 18. You could only sell e-cigarette products by retail through a Retail Tobacco and E-Cigarettes Merchant's Licence. You cannot provide free samples, prizes, gifts or other benefits, including through sponsorships, competitions or rewards. In other words, it was an extension of the ban on advertising.

You could not sell e-cigarette products from temporary outlets, so you could not set up something at a market or a shop set up to take advantage of an empty building in a shopping strip, for example. It had to be a permanent, licensed location. The use of e-cigarettes in public areas that were currently smoke-free under the law, including a motor vehicle if a child under the age of 16 was present, was also made illegal under that process. Like the evolution of further restrictions on cigarettes, we are seeing further restrictions now being brought on e-cigarettes for all the right reasons.

I did smoke for a couple of years. When you are a young apprentice you get very excited about your spending power, and I think I did for a year or two spend some money on cigarettes every week but was very pleased to give them up when I was about the age of 18. I became almost a smoking Nazi after that—a reformed smoker. I was very annoyed if I was affected by cigarette smoke through passive smoking or people who I considered to be inconsiderate with their smoking. Smokers now are seen really as victims, I guess, of an addiction. It is not socially acceptable.

Mr Odenwalder interjecting:

The Hon. D.G. PISONI: I am sorry for the member for Elizabeth. He is a very sociable guy. We all love him, but we do not like his habit. Even for married couples it is the case. I have seen situations where a cigarette is not allowed to be had in the house and even at particular times of the day. The non-smoking partner in that relationship will have very strict rules. It has brought in a lot of challenges. The easiest way of managing those challenges, of course, is to give up smoking, but I know for those who have been smoking for a long time that is not an easy thing to do.

I encourage people to consider speaking to a medical practitioner about what they could do to kick the habit, extend their quality of life, extend their life as well, increase their health by giving up smoking and certainly not taking up e-cigarettes. I think the member for Newland made the point that e-cigarettes are now having that prestige amongst young people that cigarettes had when I was a young person in the seventies, when having a cigarette was seen as part of growing up. We must smash that perception that it is a glamorous thing to do, that it is an adult thing to do. It is a very unhealthy thing to do.

We heard other speakers talking about the chemicals that are in e-cigarettes. I would like the conversation to extend to talk about the chemicals that are in soft drinks, fizzy drinks, as well. We seem to be ignoring that conversation and the damage they do to your health over extended periods of time. There are even instant impacts. Just like you can have an instant change in your mood through nicotine, some of the things, whether they be artificial sweeteners or colours that are in soft drinks, can have an instant effect on your mood or the way you feel. Many people do not realise that; they do not know that.

People are talking about an education process in reducing the uptake of smoking through e-cigarettes, and I fully support that. I think that is a great idea, but I would like to see it extended to all things that people consume, because your body reacts to what is consumed. I think it would be a great way of reducing the use of our hospital resources if people had a better understanding of the consequences of particular lifestyles and particular diets.

This is not a suggestion that people should be on diets, because diets do not work, but lifestyle changes work and they can make a big difference to your health. The lifestyle change of giving up smoking is not a diet—you are actually changing a habit, and in some instances it is a lifetime habit—it is a lifestyle change. Not drinking soft drinks is, again, a lifestyle change. It is not a diet but a change of lifestyle that will have health benefits for those who decide to give it a try.

In closing, this has been a long journey from a very long way away. We started with cigarettes being the pinnacle of prestige and success and moved to a situation now where we have very few people smoking cigarettes, and cigarettes are really seen as antisocial. However, we are seeing an influx of e-cigarettes for the very same reason, namely, the glamour that was used to sell traditional cigarettes all those many years ago.

I support the bill. It would be great for this to have an impact. I think more needs to be done for people to understand that an aid to give up smoking is not a reason to start smoking by using that aid. I would like to see the medical research according to which many people claim it helps people to give up smoking if they take up vaping. There are many other products that are proven and produced by pharmaceutical companies, after years of scientific research, to help you give up smoking, such as patches, for example, that are already available for that purpose.

So do not fall for the red herring that we need vapes available to help people to give up smoking, because that is not the impact that they have had. They have actually helped increase the number of people who smoke in South Australia, who are predominantly young people.

Ms WORTLEY (Torrens) (16:22): I rise to speak briefly on the Tobacco and E-Cigarette Products (Tobacco Product Prohibitions) Amendment Bill 2022. This was a bill that was introduced by the Hon. Connie Bonaros in the other place. I take the opportunity to acknowledge the Minister for Health and Wellbeing for his dedication in tackling the issues of smoking and e-cigarettes and for his continued work in strengthening partnerships with terrific organisations like Cancer Council South Australia.

We know that smoking remains the leading preventable cause of death and disease in Australia. The government's commitment to reduce tobacco and e-cigarette use and harm is clearly outlined in the South Australian Tobacco Control Strategy 2023-2027, which was launched last month and is now available, for everyone who is interested, on the South Australian Health website.

The strategy includes a range of programs and initiatives to drive down the prevalence of smoking in South Australians aged 15 and over to 6 per cent by 2027, the most ambitious target in the country. The strategy integrates a comprehensive set of initiatives to achieve targets and actions across the areas of priority, including social marketing and public education, evidence-based cessation services, reduced smoking prevalence in Aboriginal communities, and smoke-free areas. It also includes regulation of products; marketing and supply; research, evaluation and enforcement; and preventing interaction with the tobacco industry.

As one of the key actions in the strategy, the state government recently consulted with stakeholders and the community on how best to introduce new smoke-free and vape-free laws in outdoor public areas, particularly those that are popular with young people. The proposed new laws would ban smoking and vaping in the following outdoor areas: within 10 metres of children's education and childcare centres; within five metres of non-residential building entrances; at public hospitals and health facilities, including aged-care facilities and private hospitals, and within five metres of their boundaries; within outdoor public swimming facilities; at major sports or events facilities; at or within 10 metres of playing and viewing areas during organised under-18 years sporting events; and on beaches within 50 metres of patrol flags and under and within five metres of jetties.

The bill also proposes to outlaw cigarette vending machines in licensed venues and increase penalties for selling to minors, with a proposal of doubling penalties for the sale or supply of tobacco products to children. I understand that consultation closed this week, and now SA Health has the task of compiling all the feedback to report back to the minister. I look forward to hearing the views of the community and stakeholders that will hopefully inform the next steps of our government.

The Malinauskas Labor government has also introduced the first government-funded program of its kind in Australia to offer incentives to quit, also known as I2Q. South Australians will be offered financial incentives such as supermarket vouchers to quit smoking and vaping as part of a groundbreaking trial in Adelaide's northern suburbs aimed at supporting people to give up smoking and e-cigarettes to improve their health.

This means that smokers and e-cigarette users who want to make a genuine attempt to quit may be eligible for I2Q if they are accessing one of the participating Northern Adelaide Local Health Network services as an inpatient or outpatient, are over the age of 18 and are willing to make a genuine attempt to quit smoking or e-cigarettes. These services include Aboriginal health, mental health and cardiopulmonary health.

I encourage any Torrens residents within the Northern Adelaide Local Health Network who may be in this eligibility catchment to reach out to their treating health professional if they would like to consider being part of this program. Sometimes all it takes is for someone to help you along this journey to make the decision to quit. No-one ever said it was easy, but it is the support that can keep you going.

The federal government has also announced a range of national initiatives to address e-cigarette use, which our government supports. SA Health will continue to work with the federal government and interstate jurisdictions to strengthen the e-cigarette laws and their enforcement. The initiatives include banning the importation of non-prescription e-cigarettes; regulating flavours, colours and other ingredients; requiring pharmaceutical-like packaging; reducing the allowed nicotine concentrations and volumes; banning disposable e-cigarettes; and funding public awareness campaigns and service enhancements to help Australians quit smoking and vaping.

I was pleased to hear the announcement by the Minister for Health and Wellbeing, Minister for Education and Chief Public Health Officer about the government's campaign to curb the prevalence of vaping among young people. Some of the materials that have been designed for this campaign include bright pictures of weedkiller, nail polish remover, insect killer and disinfectant to show that toxic chemicals contained in these products can also be found in e-cigarettes or vapes.

I know that schools in my electorate of Torrens will be interested in receiving these materials to help educate students about the dangers of vaping and also help support them if they are already addicted or having difficulty giving up. It is great to see that as part of these materials information for teachers, school counsellors and parents and carers is included so that we are not just educating the students but these people as well.

Most of the time, parents and carers of young people are not aware that their children are vaping. Protecting the children and young people of South Australia is so important, and I am pleased that our government are doing all they can to reduce the harm posed to them. I commend the bill to the house.

The Hon. A. PICCOLO (Light) (16:29): I rise in support of the Tobacco and E-Cigarette Products (Tobacco Product Prohibitions) Amendment Bill 2022. I note that the bill was introduced in the upper house by the Hon. Connie Bonaros in late 2022 and acknowledge the contribution she has made to this bill. I congratulate our Minister for Health and Wellbeing on taking up the cause as well and on the other work he has been doing in this area of smoking and vaping.

Unfortunately, smoking still remains one of the leading preventable causes of death and disease in Australia. We know that we need to be vigilant about any new forms of addiction or of products that cause addiction in our society, and this bill undertakes measures to address illicit tobacco in South Australia.

For the purposes of the record, illicit tobacco includes tobacco that is sold without branding, either loose—which I understand is called chop-chop—or rolled up into cigarettes. Not being a smoker, I am not familiar with these terms. Contraband cigarettes are produced by legitimate manufacturers and sold or onsold without excise, etc., and counterfeit cigarettes are produced to appear like those produced by registered manufacturers.

Sadly, existing South Australian laws do not allow for South Australian authorised officers to enforce compliance with the commonwealth laws around the packaging and labelling of tobacco products and therefore require them to refer those cases for possible noncompliance to the relevant commonwealth authorities. Amending our own act would enable our officers to deal with those matters. The bill will give authorised officers under the South Australian act, including our police, extra powers and incentive to enforce the law, with increased penalties with a view to addressing the illegal trade.

In supporting this bill, the state Labor government is reaffirming its commitment to reduce smoking and ensure better health outcomes for South Australia. In addition to supporting this bill, the government is also looking at a range of other measures to address smoking and also vaping. The government's commitment to reducing tobacco and e-cigarette use and harm is outlined in the South Australian Tobacco Control Strategy, which was launched just recently.

As one of the key actions in that strategy, the state Labor government will consult with stakeholders on how best to introduce new smoke-free and vape-free laws in outdoor public areas, particularly those that are popular amongst young people. I raise that issue because I certainly am aware of the concern of school principals and teachers in my community, as well as students, about the use of vaping by young people.

It is interesting to note that it is unlawful to sell vaping products to minors, but it is certainly taking place. I also get complaints from residents who see young people in school uniform go in and out of houses in various streets, clearly to purchase vaping products because they actually dispose of the packaging outside, along the footpath. Unfortunately, we need to do more to clamp down on the illegal sale of existing vaping products, and these measures, plus what is being proposed, hopefully will make clear to people that vaping is not a good health thing.

It is very important that we understand the impact of vaping. As has been mentioned by others, part of the public narrative is that vaping actually helps people get off smoking. That is the theory. That may be true in some cases but not overwhelmingly. The major impact of vaping has been an increase in young people taking on vaping, which is actually seen as a precursor to smoking as well.

We have spent decades and decades on education and a whole range of economic policies to drive down smoking rates, and we can undo this if we believe that vaping is okay and we do nothing about it. Vaping is quite rife amongst young people, sadly. We need to understand why young people are vaping and also address some of the social issues that lead young people to vaping. Obviously, we need to make vaping unattractive, in the sense that people need to understand the harm it can cause them, and also make sure that vaping is not allowed to be marketed in a way that makes it attractive for young people to take up.

In my own youth advisory panel, young people themselves have raised concerns about vaping that takes place in schools. Vaping could, to some extent, also mask some other addictive behaviours that young people need to address and not hide behind the vaping itself.

In terms of the new proposed laws that are being consulted upon, they would ban smoking and vaping in the following outdoor areas: within 10 metres of children's education and childcare centres and within five metres of non-residential building entrances. I would also add that, if there is an opportunity, I think we should also ban vaping on footpaths in shopping strip areas.

For example, my main street is a shopping street. If you are vaping along the footpath, you may get caught by the five-metre rule of commercial entrances, but there will be big gaps. You want to make it quite clear that where there is a concentration of people that the overflow of smoke etc. does not affect them. We should actually ban that activity, as we have done with cigarettes. I think vaping and smoking on footpaths in those shopping strip areas should also be banned. How that is defined I will leave up to the lawyers, but it is very important.

I think we need to regulate vaping much more strongly. I am not a huge fan of trying to outlaw, ban or prohibit complete products because that just generates an illegal underground market. As we can see with the illegal use of drug products these days, even though a lot of drugs are banned they are quite prominent and prevalent in our community. We need to make sure we use education about the health effects, and we need to educate people to make sure they are not seen as a product that is useful. There are a whole range of things we need to do to make sure we keep the rate down.

Smoking and vaping will also be banned at public hospitals and health facilities, including aged-care facilities and private hospitals, and within five metres of their boundaries; outdoor public swimming facilities; major sporting events and facilities; and within 10 metres of playing and viewing areas near organised under-18 sporting events. I think it is very important to make sure that vaping is not allowed at our sportsgrounds where young people play sport because allowing it does actually condone the activity. We need to make very clear that it is not an activity we support. Smoking and vaping are also to be banned on beaches within 50 metres of patrol flags, etc.

The government are also investigating outlawing cigarette vending machines in licensed venues and increasing penalties for selling to minors, with a proposal to double penalties for the sale of tobacco and products to children. I think that those proposed laws, combined with the first government-funded program of its kind in Australia to offer incentives to quit, will make a significant contribution, on an ongoing basis, to reducing the rates of smoking and hopefully turn around the increasing rates of vaping as well.

I am glad to hear that across the chamber there is bipartisan support for this proposal. I assume it was bipartisan support in the upper house and that is why it came to us from the other place. I think that it is one of those health issues we need to address and is preventable in a very clear way. Vaping is no different from where we were perhaps 50 years ago with smoking, when it was quite trendy and a whole range of attributes were given to people who smoked. We need to address those behavioural characteristics to make sure those attributes are not applied to people who vape.

I have never smoked. I have been lucky and I have never take up the habit, but certainly other people have. Unfortunately, a lot of people now later in life are, sadly, paying the price for smoking. We do not want that for the next generation of people who vape. With those comments, I certainly support this bill and also seek its speedy recovery through the chamber.

The Hon. C.J. PICTON (Kaurna—Minister for Health and Wellbeing) (16:40): I thank all the members who have made a contribution in relation to this debate. As other members have noted, this is a particularly important topic in terms of reducing the incidence of tobacco in the community, and it is also increasingly important as we look to the emerging issue of vaping and e-cigarettes in South Australia.

As I made clear, we are going to be bringing further legislation to this parliament that will take on the issue of vaping and e-cigarettes in South Australia, working with the federal government, who have announced some very significant changes in that area. But here, in relation to illicit tobacco, we have a very clear opportunity to improve our enforcement to make sure that South Australian authorities can use the same powers as the federal government under the federal provisions.

I thank Connie Bonaros for her work in relation to this legislation. I thank DASSA and its team for their support in providing advice to the government and enabling us to support this legislation with the amendments we will move in the committee stage. I also thank Hannah Evans from my team for her work on this legislation. With that, I endorse the bill to the parliament and look forward to its passage into law.

Bill read a second time.

Committee Stage

In committee.

The CHAIR: A quorum not being present, please ring the bells.

A quorum having been formed:

Clause 1.

Clause passed.

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