What Pollies Say:
What Australian Politicians are saying:
"Exit The W.H.O . These unelected global health bureaucrats have unresonable control over our public health policies"
- Senator Alexander Antic LP
What Australian Politicians are saying:
"If the Govt was asked by the WHO FCTC to jump off a cliff, the Govt would probably comply"
- Senator Ralph Babet
What Australian Politicians are saying:
"I am anti-bad laws. This law has failed. It is time to look at other solutions."
- Senator Ross Cadell, NATS
"We don't even know how the government plans to measure this policy, so how will we know whether it's a failure or a success?"
"Well, they can look out the window and they can see what failure looks like now."
"Clearly, we're not winning this so-called war on vapes. It's not something I think can be won."
"It's pretty clear that vaping is having a negative impact in the school community."
"it goes without saying that this government has a very different position to the National Party on this issue."
"Today, I introduce the Therapeutic Goods and Other Legislation Amendment (Vaping Reforms) Bill 2024.
Importantly, this Bill does not take away the ability for patients to legitimately access therapeutic vapes to help them quit smoking or manage their nicotine dependence, if that is deemed to be clinically appropriate for that patient."
"I'd like to ask some questions about the enforcement of the ban on importing vape products"
"This has been a long process, one that Minister Mark Butler has worked diligently on with the health sector"
"selling vapes through a pharmacy is not going to solve the illegal vape trade."
"Labor's prohibition-style approach will play straight into the hands of organised crime syndicates"
"Last I looked, chemists are not tobacconists. They have been blindsided by this Australian Greens and Labor government coalition!"
"Since the details of the bill were released earlier this week, the overwhelming message I've received directly from medical professionals and public health experts is that this is not ideal"
"Our future generations depend on us taking these measures to protect them and their health going forward. The Albanese government has been listening to Australian parents, Australian school communities and Australian health leaders."
"I say that as someone who has been an active vaper and has seen and felt its impact. I have, in confidence, conversations with a great many people about how it has impacted their lives. I come from a family of smokers, and for some, for some time, vaping seemed like it could be a pathway out of smoking. For some, it has been."
"We're already seeing an underworld war over illegal vaping and tobacco sales."
"Shadow health minister Anne Ruston announced that the Coalition will – if elected – reverse the vapes ban and instead install its own system to tax and regulate them similarly to tobacco."
"The legislation that is now before the Senate will ban the under-the-counter sale and supply of vapes. It has only ever been Labor governments that have taken the strong, principled action needed to implement tobacco control, and it's only our government that will deliver the next step in vaping."
"If you had an opportunity today to step back to the 1930s and to regulate tobacco differently, would you do that?"
"We should be following what is happening in New Zealand, the UK and other jurisdictions, and learn from that other experience as well."
"The Greens have come to this debate with a clear-eyed acknowledgement that the war on drugs—prohibition—has failed."
"Tim's back on the ciggies. He's smoking again, and that's a direct result of these dangerous vaping laws introduced by the state government."
"I bought a reusable vape from a tobacconist and I used vapes to get off cigarettes. For me, that worked very well"
"At the moment in Australia, smoking prevalence is around 11 to 12 per cent. We want to drive those rates down, and the National Tobacco Strategy discusses that."
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"'the prohibition model, particularly as it's currently being operated, is not working"
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"We came to this area saying we intended to wipe out recreational vaping"
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"The legality of non-prescription vapes in WA is actually different to the rest of the country. In WA, non-prescription vapes, both those containing nicotine and those without, have been illegal since the 2016"
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"all prohibition has done in the past, even with alcohol and in other countries around the world, is create a black market."
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"I want them out of our schools, and part of that is getting them out of the corner stores that are across the road from the schools."
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"The policies we made as a coalition in government haven't worked. Effectively a prohibition model has failed."
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"we have created a barrier to entry for those wanting to easily switch from smoking to vaping, undermining the health and safety of Australians"
"We cannot stand here and say that regulation is enough, that vaping is just like cigarettes and just like alcohol, because it's not."
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"I acknowledge that some people in my electorate of Goldstein have contacted me to encourage my opposition to this legislation."
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"These figures paint a stark picture of a growing public health crisis that needs action at all levels of government"
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"'If you keep doing the same thing and expect a different outcome, that is a sign of madness.'"
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"As a former nurse and regional health researcher, I've dedicated my life to improving the health outcomes of regional and rural Australians"
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"I got it wrong and I'm going to try and get it right as best I can."
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"I definitely went to vaping to try and get off cigarettes. That was the trick, and it worked for me!"
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"the government has failed to explain how this legislation before us today will not further fuel the black market"
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"As a pharmacist who's trained in nicotine addiction and smoking cessation and who has spent much of my working life working in acute adult mental health inpatient units, I understand the risks associated with vaping"
But do you really?
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"I do worry earnestly about what we are seeing at the moment with bikie gangs and others. It has become a great cash cow for them and their nefarious activities."
"While around 9.4 per cent of people aged 18 to 24 smoke cigarettes, down from 32 per cent in 2001, 25 per cent of people in that age group have used vapes."
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"We want to do everything we can to avoid people suffering from preventable lung cancer."
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"We need strong and decisive action to arrest and reverse the increase in vaping and to prevent the long-term adverse impacts on the health of the population, before it's too late."
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""Making tobacco products more expensive is the most effective weapon in our arsenal to reduce the number of Australians who smoke.""
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"The Albanese Labor government is committed to dismantling the criminal syndicates that have made illicit vapes and illicit tobacco their trade."
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""We must educate our young people about the dangers of vaping, equipping them with the knowledge and skills to make informed decisions about their own health."
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"We must educate our young people about the dangers of vaping, equipping them with the knowledge and skills to make informed decisions about their own health."
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"Single-use vapes have been described as a strong contender for being the most environmentally wasteful, damaging and dangerous consumer product ever made."
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"My concern is that the ability for vapes to be bought without a prescription by people over the age of 18—and the ability to buy over nine—will mean that people will go from pharmacy to pharmacy to pharmacy."
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"I would urge the government to perhaps have a bit of a rethink."
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"My community is very concerned that that shop (an illegal tobacco & vapes seller) and other shops like it couldn't be closed down and that very little action could be taken."
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"We must address this, and I congratulate the government for taking a firm stand."
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""It horrifies me to think that this chamber would fall for a story from an industry which, we know, is so good at spinning a story.""
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"The government's prescription model is failing, and they are simply doubling down and banning vaping harder."
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"I will support the legislation's passage through the Senate, as we have been doing"