In calling for urgent reform, ROSS FITZGERALD says current policy on smoking and vaping is a train crash, with smoking rates in Australia possibly increasing for the first time in decades. 

Following a recent Senate inquiry on the illegal tobacco crisis in Australia, it is clear that policy on smoking and vaping is in urgent need of reform.

The Liberal Party, in particular, now needs to be more outspoken about supporting reduced cigarette excise and making lower-risk vapes more available than cigarettes, which are responsible for the deaths of up to two out of every three long-term smokers. 

The fact is that current policy on smoking and vaping is a train crash, with smoking rates in Australia possibly increasing for the first time in decades. 

It is an utter disgrace that $77 billion has been lost over five years from expected cigarette excise revenue, which is now instead flowing to booming illegal markets run by criminals. 

Moreover in the last few years, more than 250 retailers in the nation have been firebombed. The Illegal Tobacco and E-cigarette Commissioner (ITEC) recently estimated that illegal supplies of cigarettes now account for 50 to 60 per cent of supply. and that illegal vapes now account for a staggering 95.7 per cent of supply. 

The Australian Bureau of Statistics estimates that the illegal supply of cigarettes and vapes now accounts for 80 per cent of the total market.

Extortion is rampant. It is blindingly obvious that Australia’s “Tobacco Wars” are utterly out of control. 

Yet Labor and the Greens support current policies that have resulted in the creation of a new, huge and highly lucrative illegal industry. 

Those opposed include the Nationals and the burgeoning One Nation. The teals are split on this issue. But where do the Liberals stand? 

It’s not clear where the Liberals stand, although Senator Anne Ruston, the shadow health minister, seems to oppose current policy. 

Current policy has been and is a disaster for small business, which should be a cause for concern to Liberal politicians. 

A few years ago, Australia’s network of vaping shops were forced to close overnight with no compensation. Retailers selling a legal product (cigarettes) are now subject to extortion and/or forced to pay much increased insurance. And if your shop is near a tobacconist, you also have to pay increased insurance.

According to Dr Alex Wodak, emeritus consultant, Alcohol and Drug Service, St Vincent’s Hospital, Sydney, the problem here is policy taking a risky bet against harm reduction.

As Wodak argues: “Harm reduction again and again has saved many lives and many billions of dollars in the form of car seat belts, air bags, motorcycle helmets, condom promotion, sun protection to prevent skin cancer and needle syringe programs to slow the spread of HIV.”

Despite the fact that harm reduction for drugs is often a hard sell for politicians, in my opinion applying the same approach to smoking by allowing safer, smoke-free nicotine products has an undeniable powerful logic.

Australia has instead relied on sky-high cigarette taxes and severely restricted availability of vapes, but the nasty, unintended consequences of this approach are simply not sustainable. 

The Liberal Party is currently in a desperate situation. Coming out against current cigarette and vaping policy would be good policy and good politics. It would also bring them closer to the Nationals, who came out strongly for policy reform a few years ago under their previous leader, David Littleproud. 

The articulate Senator Matt Canavan, who assumed the leadership of the National Party in March is a strong supporter of such life-saving health reforms.

The  Senate inquiry report will be released on June 30. 

Ross Fitzgerald AM is emeritus professor of history and politics at Griffith University. His most recent book is Rogue: A Fictitious Memoir.