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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2023-03-08 Daily Xml
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Vaping

The Hon. H.M. GIROLAMO (14:39): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking a question of the Attorney-General regarding vaping.

Leave granted.

The Hon. H.M. GIROLAMO: Videos have surfaced in the media of a child in regional South Australia being given a vape by someone who is believed to be a relative of the young girl. The child appears to be very young, as a dummy can be seen in the footage. It has been reported that the Department for Child Protection is investigating this matter accordingly. Given the serious risks of vaping for children, such as poisoning, seizures, addiction and impacts on brain development, health experts are now calling for tougher vaping legislation in our state. My questions to the Attorney-General are:

1. Has the adult featured in the videos broken any South Australian laws?

2. Is the state government reviewing current legislation to determine whether existing vaping laws can be strengthened to deter parents, guardians and caregivers from allowing and, indeed, encouraging children in their care to vape?

3. What is the status of the department's investigation into this particular case?

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Attorney-General, Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector) (14:40): I thank the honourable member very much for her question. The laws surrounding vaping and the laws surrounding nicotine products and cigarettes generally are regulated under legislation regulation that is committed to the health minister.

I certainly know that the health minister is very interested in areas to do with reducing the incidence of the use of nicotine and nicotine products and the far-reaching and very detrimental health effects that has. I am very aware that this is something that is on the radar of the health minister and something that he takes very, very seriously and that he is constantly looking at ways to make sure South Australians are safer and healthier.

In relation to an image that the honourable member referred to, I haven't seen that, but I certainly will inform myself of that and, if I suspect there are areas not just the most likely in terms of child protection laws that may come into play here, I am happy to look at that image and bring back some information in relation to what is able to be done across the various areas of government and what may be done without breaching privacy in a particular case.

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