"Last I looked, chemists are not tobacconists. They have been blindsided by this Australian Greens and Labor government coalition!"

Timeline:

25 June 2024: 

​

"It's always been illegal to sell vapes and e-cigarettes to minors. Vapes are, of course, addictive, and their contents are often a mystery box to their users. The level of nicotine in one vape can equal the nicotine in 50 cigarettes. I'm not going to go over too much on why vapes are bad for your health, bad for your pockets, bad for the environment and simply bad—think cancer, think lung scarring, think poisoning and think addiction. My focus is on why the Labor government's response to this product is bad too. It's a typical response from this Labor government and the Australian Greens: a big announcement but with little likely impact.

With a kaleidoscope of colours and flavours such as peach, grape and lemonade, vapes are packaged and marketed to audiences to entice young people. It is shameful but sadly successful. In fact, curiosity was the reason for vaping given by 73 per cent of respondents aged 15 to 24 in the National Drug Strategy Household Survey. The outcome of the increase in vaping and e-cigarettes and the delay by this government in delivering this bill has been significant take-up, more nicotine addiction and, of course, in the last 12 months, a significant increase in organised crime.

It's the story everywhere. In my home state of South Australia, statistics revealed just last week showed that 15 per cent of school-aged students, aged 12 to 17 years old, used an e-cigarette at least once during the past month. That is 2.4 per cent higher than it was in 2017.

Nationally, there has been a sixfold increase in the use of vapes by youth aged 15 to 24 since 2019. The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare states that 13 per cent of Australians aged 15 to 24 currently using e-cigarettes were not smoking regular cigarettes in 2022 or 2023. Parents I talk to tell stories, relayed through their children, of kids as young as 11 and 12 hiding out in the school toilets to satisfy what may already be, but will surely eventually be, a vaping addiction. Walk down any stairwell in any Australian CBD and take a closer look at the street gutters; you will see vape cartridges just about everywhere. The illicit trade in South Australia, and no doubt across our nation, is enormous. An eight-week blitz last year took more than 4,000 illegal vapes off South Australian streets, and 12 Adelaide businesses were fined. That was in eight weeks. In January more than 13 tonnes of disposable vapes were seized in Adelaide. That illegal haul was the equivalent of 30 grand pianos.

I'm interested in all Australians being protected equally where it can be done and reducing harm generally, but, as shadow minister for child protection, I think this discussion is of particular importance because of those who are more likely to be disproportionately affected when it fails to deliver the outcomes that the Labor Party and the Australian Greens intended it to deliver. Use of e-cigarettes has increased among priority populations in Australia in recent years, including among low-socioeconomic-status groups, people who haven't finished high school, the unemployed, regional Australians and those who identify as LGBTQIA+. People with a mental health condition are about twice as likely to currently use e-cigarettes—12.3 per cent, compared with 5.8 per cent of people without a mental illness being diagnosed.

The coalition has also been clear from the get-go that our priority is to protect Australian children from the harms of vaping and e-cigarettes. While there are arguments for the therapeutic benefits of vapes, the selling of nicotine vapes through chemists is not an answer to stopping illegal vapes reaching our shores and our children. Last I looked, chemists are not tobacconists. They have been blindsided by this Australian Greens and Labor government coalition. It is under this Albanese Labor government that a thriving and dangerous black market has grown, and with that growth there has been a flourishing criminal element associated with that black market. State and territory governments can definitely do better to apply the law, because clearly it's not being adequately applied right now. Of course, the Commonwealth—that would be the Albanese government—must do more and can do more. It's allocation for law enforcement is nowhere near enough under this model.

It is illegal to buy a nicotine vape without a prescription. That has always been the case—and I have to say it again—yet only around 10 per cent of vapers buy their product legally through prescriptions. That's the reality of this challenge, and it's not addressed in this bill. Labor's prohibition-style approach plays straight into the hands of those organised crime syndicates and triads who are already profiting from this lucrative illegal trade. This bill amends the Therapeutic Goods Act 1989—or the TGA Act, as most people would know it—to ban the importation, domestic manufacture, supply, commercial possession and advertisement of single-use, disposable and non-therapeutic vapes. It preserves patient access to therapeutic vapes for smoking cessation and the management of nicotine dependence where clinically appropriate. However, as Labor senators have admitted, teachers do not want to police vapes in schools, just as chemists have reacted by saying they don't want to sell vapes. You would have known that if you had asked them. Chemists do not want to sell e-cigarettes and vapes beside essential medicines like Panadol and Nurofen. It's just not the right product mix. As my Senate colleague Senator Kovacic said: 'Why wouldn't you put it with other cigarette products and treat it the same?' It's all nicotine. That's the dangerous part. That's the common part in all of this. I don't get why you don't get it.

The coalition won't stand in the way of passing this bill and supports aspects of it, but fundamentally it's a flawed model. Firstly it bans predatory and dangerous single-use disposable vaping products popular with children, because those single-use products specifically target them. That's a good thing. Secondly the bill creates one single framework under the TGA for the regulation of all vaping products, regardless of their nicotine content, and the coalition would do the same in our strictly regulated retail model, if elected.

But there are some really dumb elements of this bill. This government has already failed to establish or fund its promised illicit tobacco and vaping commissioner. But Australians are getting used to broken promises and disappointment under this government. Currently the vaping black market is estimated to be around $1 billion, which is fuelled by the importation of more than 100 million illicit disposable devices each year. We've all seen the firebombings—the extortion tactics targeting tobacco and vaping retailers. It is yet another failure on national security under this Albanese Labor government that that hasn't been addressed. This Albanese government has failed to adequately explain how they will ensure enforcement measures are properly funded, not just at the border but also at the point of sale, and how they will measure the success or the failure of this policy.

Of course, the coalition government approach would be different to this one. It would introduce a strictly regulated retail model for vaping products under the TGA to put a stop to dodgy retailers selling vapes with impunity through the rampant black market to Australian children. A coalition government would provide 10 times more funding towards law enforcement than Labor through a new $250 million law enforcement package. This funding would be used to stand up an illegal tobacco and vaping taskforce, led by the Australian Federal Police and the Australian Border Force, to tackle illegal vapes from the border to the shopfront, because that's what's actually needed. This model would include a licensing scheme, prevention campaigns and strong enforcement efforts as part of a sensible approach to keep money out of the hands of criminals while stopping the sale of vapes to children. Our regulated approach would also address the dangerous and unknown chemicals that are contained in illegal vapes by placing strict requirements on safety and quality.

Naive Australians thinking of taking up vapes might think that, just because it's in a chemist or just because it's in a shop, it must be okay for you, on the basis that it's been allowed into this country. That's why looking more at what's in the vapes is equally important. European and Western countries already know that a regulated model is in the best interests of both public health outcomes and law enforcement, because they're already doing it. We all agree that this needs to be addressed, but this approach by this Labor-Greens coalition just won't work. It does not set up for or do the real work of cracking down on crime that will stop the illegal vapes from crossing our borders and coming into the hands of our children.

Vapes, as I mentioned earlier, should be regulated in the same way as cigarettes. The model is there, and the model has worked to reduce the smoking of cigarettes over decades and decades. I don't suggest that anybody hold their breath for this Labor-Greens alliance approach, because it won't do the job that it could or it should do. Australian parents and children have been sold short by this model. It could be so much better than what has been presented by the Australian Greens and the Albanese Labor government in this bill.

​

More here>>

​

The Analysis🔎

​

The statement presents a mixture of accurate concerns, misleading claims, and flawed logic about vaping, regulation, and harm reduction. Below is an analysis of the key points.

​

What Kerrynne Liddle is Right About:

​

1. The Labor-Greens Policy is Failing to Address the Black Market

​

✅ Correct: The black market for vapes in Australia is booming under the current prescription-only model.
🔹 Only around 10% of vapers obtain their products legally, proving that the pharmacy-only model is not working​.
🔹 Illegal vape importation is rampant, with millions of illicit products entering the country every year​.
🔹 The rise in black-market activity has led to organised crime, including firebombings and extortion of retailers​.

​

The best solution to combat the black market is to legalise and regulate vape sales through licensed retail stores—just like the UK and New Zealand have done successfully.

​

2. The Albanese Government Has Not Properly Funded Enforced Illicit Vapes

​

✅ Correct: The government has failed to allocate sufficient resources to crack down on illegal vape sales.
🔹 The over $1 billion black market for vapes continues to thrive because the government’s approach is focusing on bans instead of regulation and enforcement​.
🔹 Law enforcement agencies need more resources, in fact a large scale military operation would still fail to contain the illicit market because it's now that rampant!

​

The Coalition’s call for a well-funded law enforcement taskforce seems to be a reasonable approach, but regulation must accompany enforcement. Without legal alternatives, vapers will continue to turn to illicit sellers.

​

3. The Pharmacy Model is Not a Practical Solution

​

✅ Correct: Chemists do not want to sell vapes.
🔹 Many pharmacists have publicly stated that they do not want to sell vaping products​.
🔹 The idea of vapes being stocked next to medicines like Panadol and Nurofen is inappropriate, as vaping is a consumer product, not a medicine.

​

A better approach would be to regulate vapes under a dedicated, licensed retail model similar to the UK and New Zealand, rather than forcing pharmacists to sell a product they don’t want to stock.

​

What She is Wrong About:

​

1. The Claim That “Vapes are as Dangerous as Cigarettes”

​

❌ Wrong: Vaping is at least 95% less harmful than smoking, according to Public Health England, the Royal College of Physicians, and the NHS​.
🔹 Vapes do not contain tar, carbon monoxide, or thousands of toxic chemicals found in cigarette smoke​.
🔹 There is no evidence that vaping causes cancer or lung scarring in humans​.

​

By equating vapes with cigarettes, this statement ignores decades of tobacco harm reduction research.

The real danger to public health is smoking, not vaping.

​

2. “One Vape Contains the Nicotine of 50 Cigarettes” – Highly Misleading

​

❌ Wrong: The nicotine content in vapes varies widely, and most users self-titrate their intake.
🔹 The “50 cigarettes” claim is an extreme example based on high-nicotine black-market vapes, not regulated products​.
🔹 Nicotine alone is not the cause of smoking-related diseases—the real harm comes from combustion, tar, and toxic chemicals​.

​

The focus should be on ensuring consumers have access to regulated, lower-nicotine vaping products, rather than relying on illicit high-nicotine imports.

​

3. The Gateway Theory is Not Supported by Evidence

​

❌ Wrong: There is no strong evidence that vaping leads young people to smoking.
🔹 Countries like the UK and New Zealand, where vaping is widely available, have seen youth smoking rates decline, not increase​​.
🔹 Most youth who try vaping are already at high risk of smoking or are former smokers​.

​

The real “gateway” is cigarette smoking, not vaping. A well-regulated vape market reduces youth smoking rates rather than increasing them.

​

4. “Vapes Should Be Regulated Like Cigarettes” – A Flawed Comparison

​

❌ Wrong: Vaping is significantly less harmful than smoking and should not be regulated in the same way.
🔹 Cigarette regulations aim to phase out a deadly product—vaping regulations should promote harm reduction.
🔹 The UK and New Zealand have created separate regulatory frameworks for vaping, recognising that it is fundamentally different from smoking​.

​

Treating vaping like cigarettes ignores the fundamental differences in harm. The correct approach is a separate, well-regulated market for vaping products.

​

5. The Claim That Flavours are Designed to Target Children is Inaccurate

​

❌ Wrong: Flavored vapes are essential for adult smokers looking to quit.
🔹 Studies show that most adult vapers prefer fruit and sweet flavours over tobacco flavours, as they make quitting smoking easier​.
🔹 Countries that regulate flavours properly (UK, New Zealand) have lower youth vaping rates than Australia​.

​

 Instead of banning flavours, the government should introduce stricter age verification laws and penalties for underage sales, as done in other successful harm reduction models.

​

Final Verdict: Labor’s Policy is Failing, But So is the Coalition’s Argument

​

✅ What Kerrynne Liddle Gets Right:

✔️ The black market for vapes has exploded under the Labor-Greens prohibitionist model.
✔️ The lack of law enforcement funding has allowed criminal networks to thrive.
✔️ The pharmacy-only model is unworkable and should be abandoned.

​

❌ What Kerrynne Liddle Wrong:

❌ Vaping is not as dangerous as smoking—it is a harm reduction tool.
❌ The “50 cigarettes” claim is misleading—nicotine is not the main harm from smoking.
❌ Vaping does not lead to smoking—youth smoking rates continue to decline where vaping is legal.
❌ Flavours are not just for kids—they help adults quit smoking.

​

What Australia Needs Instead:

​

• A strictly regulated retail model for vapes, with: Licensed retailers selling regulated products.

• Strict age verification and penalties for underage sales.

• Flavour regulation, not bans.

• Heavy enforcement against black-market sellers.

• Public education campaigns to combat misinformation about vaping and promote harm reduction.

​

While the Coalition’s critique of the Labor-Greens policy failures is justified, Australia should not treat vaping like cigarettes but rather follow the evidence-based harm reduction models of the UK and New Zealand. A legal, well-regulated vape market is the best way to protect youth, reduce black market activity, and help smokers quit.

​

​