QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE

Mr BUTLER (Hindmarsh—Minister for Disability and the National Disability Insurance Scheme, Minister for Health and Ageing and Deputy Leader of the House) (14:57): I thank the member again for her question about reversing excise increases that have taken place over the last number of years. Under this government— Mr Violi interjecting— The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Casey is now warned.

Mr BUTLER: there has been just under a 40 per cent increase. Under the former government, there was a 215 per cent increase to excise, all of it trousered by the government—not a single dollar into enforcement, not a single dollar into public health campaigns. At the same time, disposable vapes were allowed to flood into this country and flood our schoolyards.

And now they want to bring them back, because we've all heard parents saying, 'Gee, I wish vapes were brought back to our schoolyards,' haven't we! 'Oh, gee, I wish the vapes were brought back into the hands of our school— Honourable members interjecting— The SPEAKER: Order! We're going to pause. I can't hear.

There's too much noise. If that continues, people are just going to be removed immediately. Everyone's clear?

The wall of noise is unacceptable. Mr BUTLER: I know the member comes at this from a good position. We might disagree on some detail.

She, like every member of this House, wants to find a way to fight the criminals. She wants to find a way to fight the fact that, over a number of years, there has been a very big increase in the illicit tobacco market. Now, we took the view, unlike those opposite when in government, that we needed to boost our enforcement resources, we needed to give the ABF vast additional resources to stop the flood, initially of vapes and then of illicit tobacco, and we've started to do that.

We've also taken the view that we need to work in cooperation with state governments. Those opposite didn't do that. We've taken a very different view.

Particularly, there are some states leading the way. I've mentioned them. There's Queensland, under the LNP, and the South Australian government.

We're very pleased that the bigger states are coming to the party as well. And, as I and so many other ministers have said, of course this government is open to other sensible ideas about how we can fight organised crime while not prejudicing our most important public health campaign. But this is the problem I have with the announcements that One Nation first made—and then, sure enough, led by the nose, the coalition followed.

The SPEAKER: The minister will pause. The manager on a point of order? Mr Tehan: It goes to relevance, Speaker.

The question didn't mention the opposition. It sought a straight answer from the Prime Minister on whether you're going to cut the— The SPEAKER: Resume your seat. The minister has concluded his answer.

Honourable members interjecting — The SPEAKER: Order! We don't need the commentary every time we conclude an answer. Everyone show some restraint.