Timeline:
15 February 2024:
Education and Employment Legislation Committee
Questions to Australian Curriculum, Assessment & Reporting Authority
5 June 2024:
Education and Employment Legislation Committee
Questions to Australian Education Research Organisation Limited
Senator PAYMAN: Good afternoon. I'd like to ask some questions about vaping. The committee's extensively discussed vaping and its damaging impacts on schools and students, and I was particularly shocked when I saw some vapes are disguised as asthma puffers. Are there any particular differences you see in the difficulty for teachers to deal with vaping as opposed to smoking cigarettes? Could you perhaps elaborate on the impacts of vaping you're seeing on Australian students and teachers overall.
Mr Cook : I'll make a start, and the experts at the table will help. You're absolutely right. I'm aware of vapes that look like highlighter pens as well. Students can put them in their pencil case, effectively, and you wouldn't know that it's a vape. I'm assuming that's not a vape that you've got next to me, Ms Brighton!
CHAIR: I was joking before about smoko and 'vape break'.
Mr Cook : Exactly! While cigarettes were more easily identified, the vapes and the way that manufacturers have been able to disguise the vapes have become a real issue for schools and teachers. As you'd be aware, it's got to the stage in a number of schools where schools have actually put vaping monitors into bathrooms because students were congregating around their toilets, but, when a teacher would come along, it could easily just look like pen in their pocket. There are some real insidious issues here that we've been dealing with, but I'll let Ms Brighton talk in a little bit more detail about the things that we're doing.
Ms Brighton : We know that nicotine is really harmful to the teenage brain and has really significant impacts on memory and concentration. It can really amplify depression—and we're already talked in this hearing today about student wellbeing. What the research was showing for us was that one in seven 14- to 17-year-olds have vaped, and one in five 18- to 24-year-olds, so it's a really significant issue. What's happening in classrooms is that it's creating all these low levels of disruption. When I say low levels, I'm not talking about violence. It's about the interruptions in the learning during the day. Students are not attending classes or are having to get out of class, because the addiction is so amplified in a vape, compared to other things that are available to young people.
One in four users of vapes have never been smokers. It's a new phenomenon that is having a really significant impact in schooling, and it's really difficult for teachers. Minister Clare told the story of a teacher who was telling him that they're spending all their time policing in classrooms. There's been a range of things that have been done about this. Principals have raised it with us, and parent groups have raised it with us as a really significant issue. It's a really big driver of behavioural issues.
Midway through last year, education ministers talked about this issue and agreed to work with health ministers on targeted activity to try and resolve this issue. In addition to the federal work that's been done, about vapes, the import of vapes and the controls that've been put around that, state and territory education ministers and the federal health and education ministers have written to all principals about vaping and the impact of vaping. In addition to the banning of imports, there's a campaign that's running and there's investment in cessation support, not only at a federal level but also at a jurisdictional level. At a federal level, there's also investment that's gone into cancer screening. A ban is critical in this but so is helping the young people who've become addicted. As young people are going through withdrawals, all those elements about the addiction are amplified, in terms of disruption, so it's an important issue that we're taking action on.
Senator PAYMAN: Thank you for elaborating on that, Ms Brighton. On 24 May 2024 I saw a joint press conference held by the Australian Medical Association and various peak parent organisations—I'm not sure whether you saw it as well. It was pretty distressing data that they were sharing with everyone. The president of the AMA said that vaping is quite possibly one of the greatest public health challenges we're facing. You've outlined how vaping is contributing to learning disruption for students. The president of the Australian Parents Council said that 57 per cent of parents and carers indicated very high levels of concern about the children and teens in their care because of vaping. Is there anything else on that disruption aspect, of students not being able to learn, that you'd like to elaborate on?
Ms Brighton : Certainly the classroom disruption inquiry heard about the impact of disruption on learning and on the wellbeing of other students. I know that the government has commissioned AERO, who will be witnesses here later on and who can talk about some of the resources they've been developing, specifically to help schools with disruption. The government has also invested in some resources, and Dr Hunter might want to talk about that.
Dr Hunter : The department has also published a number of freely available vaping resources on our Student Wellbeing Hub, targeted at educators, parents and students, about the harms of vaping. Through schools, we are trying to provide a lot of information to parents and students about the harms of vaping and the impact on classrooms, and to enable students to seek support with cessation activities should they need them.
Senator PAYMAN: Finally, I'd also like to note that, at the same press conference, the President of the Australian Council of State School Organisations, which represents parents at government schools across the country, urged all senators to pass the bill before parliament to restrict the availability of vapes. It seems quite clear to me what parents think parliament should do, if, hopefully, the coalition listened to parents. What do teacher and school leader peak bodies say about the issue?
Ms Brighton : When we've engaged with them, their primary concern has been the profound and negative effects of addiction and how that influences learning. Once your learning is impacted, it impacts your life outcomes. Anything that can be done to support not only children and young people but also educators in the classroom to deal with these symptoms of addiction is critically important.