Introduction by Croakey: South Australia may become the first jurisdiction in Australia to make it illegal for anyone to sell or supply tobacco or e-cigarette products to a person born on or after 1 January 2007.
A Bill introduced by independent MP Frank Pangallo aims to create a smoke-free generation in South Australia. It was recently passed by the state’s Legislative Council; the timing of its consideration by the state’s House of Assembly is not yet known.
While smoking rates among Australian teenagers dropped substantially from 1996 to 2023, recent data suggests teenage smoking may increase in recent years since use of e-cigarettes has increased.
Associate Professor Becky Freeman, from the University of Sydney, said recently that “public health experts have warned that teenage vaping uptake has the potential to undo the positive progress Australia has made in reducing smoking”.
A study published earlier this year in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health shows that teenagers aged 12-17 years who had vaped are five times more likely to start smoking in the future than those who had not vaped.
While the South Australian move is a positive step for public health, Dr Michaela Okninski and Professor Coral Gartner, from the Centre of Research Excellence on Achieving the Tobacco Endgame at The University of Queensland, argue below that a national approach is needed.
Michaela Okninski and Coral Gartner write:
In an Australian first, a new bill will make it illegal in South Australia for anyone to sell or supply tobacco products or e-cigarettes to a person born on or after 1 January 2007 from 1 January 2025.
The Tobacco and E-Cigarette Products (Miscellaneous) Amendment Bill 2024, introduced by independent MP Frank Pangallo, passed South Australia’s Legislative Council on 25 September 2024, promising to create a smoke-free generation in South Australia.
If passed by the House of Assembly (Lower House), this initiative would make South Australia the first jurisdiction in Australia and the largest jurisdiction in the world to successfully implement this policy, due to the repeal of New Zealand’s Smokefree Generation law at their last election.
The Bill not only targets tobacco products – cigarettes – but also seeks to phase out the supply of e-cigarettes and vapes for the next generation of South Australians, and if passed, will make South Australia a national public health leader by initiating a planned (albeit, very slow) phaseout of both tobacco and vaping product sales.
Consideration and clarification of how the phase-out of e-cigarette sales will work with the recent federal reforms that allow therapeutic vaping products to be supplied via pharmacies may be required.
South Australia is not the first jurisdiction in Australia to consider a smoke-free generation law, as a similar initiative was proposed in Tasmania almost 10 years ago. In 2015, Tasmanian Independent MP, Ivan Dean, tabled the Tasmanian Public Health Amendment (Tobacco-free Generation) Bill 2014.
The Tasmanian Bill was heralded as being a trailblazer that would reform tobacco control laws; however, it failed to garner the necessary support from the Tasmanian Government, and lapsed due to prorogation of parliament.
Commercial interference
Now that the South Australian Bill has passed the Legislative Council, it is likely that the tobacco industry will also attempt to interfere and generate opposition for the measure, as we have seen whenever new effective tobacco control measures are proposed that could threaten future industry profits.
Several concerns about the initiative that reflect the typical tobacco industry arguments used to oppose new tobacco control laws have already been raised in the Legislative Council.
During the second reading debate, Nicola Centofanti, the Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council, voiced concern about the measure potentially increasing illicit sales of tobacco and e-cigarettes. However, the measure is likely to decrease the illicit market overall because it will discourage uptake of smoking among young adults, thereby gradually reducing the number of consumers purchasing any tobacco products, including untaxed products.
The Bill was also described as eroding the individual rights and liberties of adults. In rejecting this argument, Pangallo highlighted the negative impact that addiction has on free choice, observing that “once you are addicted, your freedom to choose no longer exists. Addiction robs people of choice. It is not a matter of willpower or discipline, it is about a chemical dependency that takes on average 30 attempts to break”.
The Bill will now progress to the House of Assembly for debate.
To date, South Australia’s Labor Government has remained silent on whether it will back the smoke-free generation bill, or will stop with the Government’s own tobacco control bill – the Tobacco and E-Cigarette Products (E-Cigarette and Other Reforms) Amendment Bill 2024 – introduced by the Minister for Health and Wellbeing Chris Picton.
Picton’s Bill passed the House of Assembly on 24 September 2024 and has been received in the Legislative Council for consideration.
Picton’s Bill proposes a more conservative approach to tobacco control, seeking to: “take steps to eliminate the uptake of smoking and other consumption of tobacco products and E-Cigarettes’ in young people to the greatest extent possible; reduce the availability of tobacco and e-cigarettes; and target the illegal tobacco industry (Section 3)”.
However, while Picton’s Bill includes many admirable measures, such as strengthening existing penalties for selling cigarettes and e-cigarettes to minors and moving tobacco vending machines out of public areas, it lacks the clear pathway provided by Pangallo’s Bill to achieving the goals of eliminating uptake of smoking or substantially reducing the availability of tobacco.
National approach
Regulation of tobacco products and e-cigarettes are a shared responsibility between the federal and state and territory governments, but the states and territories are primarily responsible for regulating sales. Hence, it is appropriate for states to lead on regulatory reforms concerning how tobacco products are supplied.
Due to its vision and reach, Pangallo’s Bill is a much-needed step in the right direction to address the immense health, environmental and economic harms caused by cigarettes.
However, if adopted, it will only apply in South Australia. To ensure that future generations throughout Australia are protected from this harmful and addictive product, every state and territory should similarly adopt a smoke-free generation law.
Nevertheless, adopting Pangallo’s Bill would set South Australia on the path to becoming the first smoke-free jurisdiction in Australia, and by doing so, set an important precedent for other states and territories in Australia to follow.
Hence, the Tobacco and E-Cigarette Products (Miscellaneous) Amendment Bill 2024 provides the South Australian Government with an opportunity to show national and international leadership by drawing a line in the sand and taking steps to end the regulatory exceptionalism that has been granted to the tobacco industry, which continues to profit from selling an addictive substance that fails to meet modern consumer expectations concerning product safety.
About the authors
Dr Michaela Okninski is a researcher at Centre of Research Excellence on Achieving the Tobacco Endgame at The University of Queensland.
Professor Coral Gartner is Director of NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence on Achieving the Tobacco Endgame at The University of Queensland.
Further reading
Pharmacists are now allowed to supply nicotine vapes over the counter. But they might not want to do so, by Coral Gartner
See Croakey’s archive of articles on the commercial determinants of health.