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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2022-09-27 Daily Xml
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Aboriginal Smoking Rates

The Hon. S.L. GAME (15:13): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking a question to the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander smoking rates.

Leave granted.

The Hon. S.L. GAME: Australian Bureau of Statistics data, as provided by the productivity reporting dashboard, shows that the proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults who smoked daily in South Australia was at 41.7 per cent in 2012-13, before dropping to 38.2 per cent in 2014-15, but then increasing to 40.4 per cent in 2018-19. For comparison, the same reporting dashboard record shows that the proportion of adults who smoked daily in South Australia in 2018 was 13.3 per cent. My questions to the minister are:

1. How concerned is the minister that smoking rates among First Nations people in South Australia have not decreased over the last decade?

2. What action is the government taking to address smoking rates in Aboriginal communities across the state?

3. Will the government consider products that reduce both harm and cost for smokers, such as vaping, to try to curb current smoking rates?

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Attorney-General, Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector) (15:15): I thank the honourable member for her important question. It is the case that in many determinants of health, Aboriginal South Australians trail far, far behind their non-Aboriginal counterparts in this state. Smoking is a very serious issue for all South Australians but particularly in Aboriginal communities. I will have to take parts of the question on notice in order to talk to my colleague the health minister, and also try to perhaps get some information from the federal health department about programs that specifically address Aboriginal smoking rates.

I know from my home town of Mount Gambier, the Aboriginal health service Pangula Mannamurna ran specific programs targeting smoking rates amongst particularly Aboriginal young men. I have seen that program in operation and the officers who have worked in that program and, from what I have seen, it has been quite successful. Aboriginal health clinics and centres are funded directly by the commonwealth so it might be something where we have to seek information from the commonwealth.

I do agree and acknowledge that it is a problem in the determinants of health outcomes which trail so far behind, and I will get some more information for the honourable member from my colleague at the state level and see if we can find some more information. I suspect there will be significant effort. As I said, Aboriginal health clinics around South Australia are generally funded directly from the federal government.

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