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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2024-03-19 Daily Xml
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Vaping

The Hon. S.L. GAME (14:52): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before directing a question to the Attorney-General, representing the Minister for Health, regarding the vape prescription model in South Australia.

Leave granted.

The Hon. S.L. GAME: A recent poll of 1,500 people commissioned by the Australian Association of Convenience Stores found that only 7 per cent of respondents believe the government is doing a 'good' or 'very good' job managing the regulation of vapes. Overall, 84 per cent of voters agreed that 'nicotine vaping products should only be available through licensed retail outlets to adults, the same as alcohol and tobacco products'.

We remain the only Western country operating under the prescription model, instead of regulating nicotine vapes to be able to be legally sold from licensed retail premises to adults, especially those wishing to quit. Tulipwood Economics has released new data indicating that the federal government would raise more than $9 billion if the ban on vapes was scrapped, allowing products to be regulated and taxed in the same way as tobacco.

In 2022, I introduced the Controlled Substances (Nicotine) Amendment Bill, which would help stop the illegal supply of nicotine vapes to children who are accessing this dangerous product, often with devastating health outcomes, while allowing regulated nicotine vapes to be sold to adults for the purpose of assisting smoking cessation.

This is a matter of public health. My question to the minister is: why is the state government persisting with a flawed model that is allowing cigarettes to be more available than regulated nicotine vapes designed to help people quit smoking?

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Attorney-General, Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector) (14:53): I thank the honourable member for her question and will pass the question on to the minister in another place and bring back a reply.

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