Prohibition Is Killing Remote Communities — It’s Time to Embrace Harm Reduction

Alan Gor 27 April 2025

“They Just Want to Quit — But We’re Giving Them Nothing That Works”

Why Australia’s remote Indigenous communities urgently need access to safer alternatives like vaping

Tjuntjuntjara is one of the most remote communities in Australia, 1,300 kilometres from Perth, tucked into the vast Great Victoria Desert. But for all its isolation, it is now at the centre of a public health scandal that should shame us all.

A recent report by the ABC has exposed the crisis: around 70% of adults in Tjuntjuntjara smoke daily — nearly eight times the national average. The local shop charges $114 for a 30g pouch of tobacco. A single pack of 20 cigarettes costs $56. A deadly luxury tax on people with some of the lowest incomes in the country.

And here’s the part we all need to hear: many of these smokers want to quit. But they’re being given nothing that actually helps.

The System is Failing — and the Government Knows It

The federal government claims it’s tackling this crisis through its “Tackling Indigenous Smoking” program. But locals in Tjuntjuntjara say they’ve seen no sign of it. Health services in the area are under-resourced. Mental health support is virtually non-existent. The only stopgap offered to smokers is patches and gum — interventions that most people find ineffective.

As nurse practitioner Stephen Farrington puts it:

“It’s so social… someone offers a cigarette and they’re back on it again. It’s hard to give up.”

This isn’t about a lack of willpower. It’s about a lack of effective options.

Price Hikes Aren’t Saving Lives — They’re Sucking the Life Out of Communities

Australian politicians still cling to the idea that raising cigarette taxes will push people to quit. In theory, that might sound reasonable. But in practice, it’s devastating the people least able to afford it.

Tjuntjuntjara residents are spending up to a third of their income on tobacco. They’re skipping meals, turning to junk food, and “humbugging” their elders for money just to keep up the addiction. And what’s worse, those sky-high prices are not even deterring use. They’re pushing people toward cheaper, unregulated black-market cigarettes.

This year, the government’s tobacco tax take fell by $7 billion because of illegal tobacco flooding the market.

So let’s get real:

This is no longer a deterrent. It’s a punishment.

And it’s not working.

There Is a Better Way - But We’ve Banned It

Let’s talk about the elephant in the room: vaping.

In countries like the UK and New Zealand, vaping has become a core part of national strategies to reduce smoking rates. And it’s working.

• The UK’s NHS promotes vaping as the most effective tool for quitting smoking, especially for people who’ve failed with patches or gum.

• New Zealand’s Ministry of Health supports vaping, particularly for Māori and Pasifika communities where smoking rates have historically been high.

And the data backs them up:

Smokers who switch to vaping are significantly more likely to quit than those who use nicotine replacement therapy. Vaping delivers nicotine without the 7,000 chemicals and carcinogens found in tobacco smoke, making it at least 95% less harmful, according to Public Health England and the Royal College of Physicians.

But what do we do in Australia?

We criminalise it!!

We make it almost impossible to access regulated nicotine vaping products, particularly in rural or Indigenous communities. We force smokers to jump through hoops, get a doctor’s prescription, and hope their pharmacy stocks what they need, all while pretending that our “quit services” are enough.

They’re not.

Culturally Safe Harm Reduction, Not One-Size-Fits-All Prohibition

The people of Tjuntjuntjara aren’t asking for miracles. They’re asking for tools that actually work, tools they can access, afford, and control themselves.

That’s what vaping offers:

• A less harmful, familiar ritual that replaces smoking behaviour

• Immediate affordability, especially compared to $56 packs of cigarettes

• Flexibility to taper nicotine at a pace that suits the individual

• Empowerment and agency, instead of shame and punishment

And most importantly, it can be delivered through culturally appropriate, community-led initiatives that meet people where they are.

In places where smoking is destroying lives and communities, the refusal to offer vaping as an option is indefensible. When you’ve tried everything else and it’s failed, not offering something that might work is negligence.

What Needs to Happen - Now

If the government is serious about equity, reconciliation, and improving Indigenous health outcomes, it must:

1. Legalise and regulate nicotine vaping products as part of Australia’s public health strategy

2. Provide culturally tailored harm reduction services, designed and delivered in collaboration with First Nations communities

3. Reallocate funding from ineffective public campaigns to programs that deliver real-world tools, access, and support

4. Stop prioritising ideological purity over practical impact

And above all, listen to the people in these communities. They are telling us what they need. They’re not asking for slogans. They’re asking for help.

Enough Talk. It’s Time to Act.

The stories from Tjuntjuntjara are heartbreaking, but they’re also a call to action.

When someone is spending a third of their income to feed a deadly addiction, and the only thing we offer them is shame, we have failed. When a person wants to quit but has no real support, that’s not their fault. That’s ours.

It’s time to stop pretending that patches and prayers will fix this. It’s time to start giving people real tools — and trust them to use them.

Vaping can be part of the solution.

It’s not a threat to public health.

In places like Tjuntjuntjara, it might be the only hope left.