I rise to also speak on the Health Legislation Amendment and Repeal Bill 2019. Before I start, I do want to commend the member for Lara for being able to quit smoking. I know it is a very hard thing to do, and congratulations to you for being able to overcome that. This is a government serious about doing all it can when it comes to making a difference to the health and wellbeing of all Victorians. The long-term issue faced by our system of health care of smoking and tobacco-related illnesses is one of the most significant costs both to human beings and to our economy. This Labor government, I am very pleased to say, recognises the danger smoking continues to pose. Which is why, in the last term of government, efforts were made to amend the Tobacco Act 1987 so smoking in outdoor dining areas was finally banned, and regulations were equalised with respect to shisha and e-cigarettes. We have known for over 30 years that smoking tobacco is a health hazard, which was why the Tobacco Act was initially passed by the Cain Labor government in 1987. We were the first jurisdiction in Australia to legislate bans on tobacco advertising on billboards and shops. Successive governments have continued to strengthen these restrictions, including banning smoking in restaurants, workplaces, pubs and clubs in 2001.
Acting Speaker, I spent many of my earlier years, you might not be aware, working my way through university as a waitress. Thinking back on those years recently, it was a job I enjoyed and I loved the camaraderie of the staff. But what I hated was coming home each night and having to scrub the smoke out of my clothes and hair. I remember that clearly. I remember holding my breath, not wanting to inhale the clouds of smoke that were forever present, even in the outdoor areas. I am extremely grateful that my children, should they ever have the pleasure to be in the hospitality industry, never have to go home and scrub the smoke out of their hair and clothes.
Regulation of tobacco advertising is not a new concept, nor is it more unusual than cigarettes being kept off display at the supermarket and contained in packaging warning of the hazards of smoking, because we know these restrictions work to help smokers quit. Since 1995 the percentage of adults nationwide who smoke has almost halved. That is a huge effort. And only 10.7 per cent of Victorians continue to smoke—that is 700 000 of us here in this state continue to smoke. There are a lot of reasons why we must continue to tighten the restrictions as new products come onto the market and the selling of these products becomes increasingly innovative. The cost alone of smoking is staggering. Smoking costs our economy up to $9.6 billion dollars. The financial cost is appalling, but with the habit killing up to 4400 Victorians every single year, it is a very sad outcome for so many in our local communities.
I met with the coordinator at Werribee Mercy Hospital recently, who talked to me about her role in assisting the rollout of stillbirth awareness and prevention initiatives that our government has undertaken. We talked a lot about the risks of smoking while pregnant. We talked about the number of women in Wyndham who continue to smoke while pregnant and the risks to themselves and to their babies. I must admit I did find it quite shocking that we were still back in that place, having conversations with pregnant women and about pregnant women continuing to smoke. Nevertheless, we must keep up the awareness and education campaign about the risks of smoking while pregnant. No mother should ever have to go through losing her baby, and I of all people know what that does to a mother, to a father and to a family.
What I believe the greatest driver of this decline has been is our ability to better educate the community about the health risks of smoking and its connection to diseases like cancer, emphysema, strokes and a host of other diseases, including gum disease, which comes to my mind because I frequently see it displayed on the packets of my brother’s cigarettes. My younger brother, my little bro Ben, is unfortunately one of the many young people that started smoking as a young teenager. Now at 31 years of age, he has been unable to quit the habit. I feel pretty strongly about speaking on this bill, so much so that I called my little brother who was on his way to the airport, making the long-haul trip back to the west, as we say. He is a FIFO—a miner in WA. As a family we have all spoken to Ben at different times in his life about committing to quitting his habit. But over the years we have probably started saying less about it. It has become, sadly, accepted. It has become something that has been normalised about him.
When I asked Ben why he started smoking all those years ago, his answer to me was very simple. I will quote him: ‘I started because I thought it was cool’. Ben has been trying for over a decade to quit the habit, and I have no hesitation in saying here in this place today that I am absolutely positive he wishes he had never started all those years ago, because what he thought was cool when he was 16 is a far cry from what he thinks is cool today.
Our ability to convey that smoking is bad for one’s health has overall been largely successful. My brother has not been able to quit yet, but he is probably the first one to admit that times have changed. The community’s expectations have changed, be it around the advertising of smoking or, what he probably cares most about, the actual cost of a packet of cigarettes. Though what has been most concerning in recent times is that up to 11 per cent of Victorian teenagers between the ages of 16 and 17 are now smokers, with one of the key problems surrounding this being the increasing prevalence of e-cigarettes.
Much has been said about e-cigarettes and how they are supposedly a way to ease tobacco smokers into quitting. I asked my brother about this and he thought that that was not true at all. That was a ‘furphy’, in his words. Most disturbing has been the way e-cigarettes have been able to enter the market. They have been targeted at a new generation of young would-be smokers. We know that about 13 per cent of Australian teenagers have admitted to trying e-cigarettes despite what we are learning about the effects of vaping. Frighteningly, there is also very little evidence to suggest that e-cigarettes are any safer than their traditional tobacco-filled counterparts. What has been seen in the US is an increase in severe pulmonary disease across several states, which has been linked to e-cigarettes and vaping.
In many ways e-cigarettes are simply another way for tobacco companies to try and renormalise smoking amongst a much younger generation who have spent a lot of their time being educated on the harms of tobacco. We know this is a trend that has been shown in Canada, in the UK and in the US—that young people who are taking up e-cigarettes then move on to combustible smoking. When I asked my brother what his thoughts were around e-cigarettes and vaping, and why young kids are taking them up, he said—and again I will use his words because he spoke so eloquently—‘It’s the new thing for young people to do. It’s a hipster-forming habit. It’s aimed at young people, and it’s being normalised. And it does lead to smoking cigarettes, which leads to being addicted to nicotine’.
This government is committed to leading the charge, with our health minister in the other place lobbying her fellow health ministers across Australia to protect our young kids and regulate the packaging and labelling of e-cigarette liquids. I sincerely hope that they do take notice and are prepared to tackle the issue. This bill continues the government’s efforts to clamp down on smoking by tackling the issue of tobacco advertising—particularly advertising in Victorian sport. As evident from the advertising partnerships formed between the tobacco industry and the Formula One Grand Prix and the motorcycle grand prix, tobacco companies have evolved in the way they seek to advertise their products. Whilst the advertising partnerships were dumped for the Formula One Grand Prix, it nevertheless exposes the weaknesses in outdated legislation that need to change, and change is what this bill brings in.
To address the issue of tobacco advertising, this bill is going to extend the definition of tobacco and e-cigarette advertisements to encompass words and designs that are closely associated with the manufacturer. The fact is that if a manufacturer of tobacco products is promoting itself through any form, it is attempting to sell its products. Let us get real here: selling these products has absolutely disastrous and fatal consequences for the health of hundreds of thousands of Victorians every single year. Amendments in this bill will ensure that tobacco advertising will not be allowed to sneak its way back into the Victorian sports industry.
This bill reflects the government’s commitment to Victoria’s healthcare system. Communities like mine out in Tarneit will know they can always rely on Labor governments to put their health and wellbeing first.
