MATTERS OF PUBLIC IMPORTANCE

Dr GARLAND (Chisholm) (15:38): I want to be really clear from the outset that the Albanese government is not going to surrender our nation's health policy to serious and organised criminals or big tobacco, who just want to see a new generation of Australians hooked on nicotine. Illicit tobacco is a global problem and countries around the world, regardless of their taxation policies, are experiencing problems with the illicit trade.

A pack of 20 cigarettes can be produced in South-East Asia for as little as 28c. Those same cigarettes can be sold on the black market in Australia for as little as $7 or $8 a pack if you buy the tobacco by the carton. This is a terrible problem, and instead of giving up and capitulating to criminals our government has committed more than $365 million since 2024 to crack down on illegal tobacco before it arrives, when it arrives and after it arrives in the country.

If one were to sit down and try and design a policy to drive up smoking rates in this country, which would see our hospital wards fill up with diseased and dying Australians and would see the next generation of children hooked on nicotine, it would be what the opposition has put forward in the last few days, which is disgraceful. It's a policy devoid of modelling and substance in their tragic race to the bottom with One Nation.

They're racing to get into bed with big tobacco and the vaping lobby. I don't know if its because they've got no modelling or because they're not prepared to release the modelling showing how many Australians their policy would make sick by driving up smoking rates, but it is pretty shocking that they are taking the position that they are. While headlines over the last few days have focused on their call to cut the tobacco excise by 80 per cent, the real stalking horse here is their radical plan to let vapes rip through our communities.

The assistant minister clearly articulated this in his contribution. It is terrible that, at the very moment when Australia has recorded the lowest smoking rates on record, the Liberals and the Nationals are calling to unleash unregulated vapes and other nicotine products onto the public. Vapes are not a safer alternative to smoking.

I note that the previous speaker attempted to make arguments to the contrary. This simply does not stack up with the facts. Vaping causes significant harm to Australians.

We know that vapes are highly nicotine potent, and there is clear evidence of the links between vaping and cancer. People who vape are five times more likely to end up smoking, which ends the argument around vaping being a safer alternative. It is a gateway mechanism to smoking.

New data from the University of Sydney has found—from clinical monitoring, animal studies and mechanistic data—that vapes are likely to cause lung cancer and oral cancer. One of the lead researchers of that study has said, 'We can hardly say that e-cigarettes are somehow safer than conventional cigarettes.' These are the facts. These products are highly nicotine potent.

One vape can contain as much as nine packs worth of nicotine. They're not a safer alternative to smoking, and they drive an increase in smoking. It is truly appalling what we are listening to today—and what we've listened to this week—as a policy from the Liberal Party.

I know the community is disgusted by this approach. I remember the many parents who contacted me both before and after the 2022 election before we were able to implement laws around vaping. I had many attend mobile offices, concerned about the prevalence of vapes in the community; they were concerned for their children.

I want to now reflect on a conversation I had with a local dad who attended one of my mobile offices. This dad was really concerned about the ease with which his young teenage son was able to walk into the local milk bar on Elgar Road with his mates after school and purchase as many flavoured vapes as he liked. This dad was furious about the ease of access as well as the blatant marketing and targeting of these vapes to teens by the tobacco companies—not to mention the trail of empty vape plastics that were often scattered on local footpaths and the negative impact this had on the local amenity and environment.

I'm really proud to be part of a government that has taken action against nicotine addiction, that has taken action against vapes and that continues to take action against organised crime. What those opposite have proposed is a disgrace.