Almost 10 per cent of Australians (2 million adults) still smoke tobacco daily. Tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable death and disability in Australia and is responsible for about 21,000 deaths each year.
Vaping is also rapidly increasing in Australia, particularly among young people. Latest estimates show that 1 in 6 teenagers aged 14 to 17 has vaped, and 1 in 4 people aged 18 to 24 has vaped.
Nicotine is highly addictive and poses serious health risks, and medical experts have serious concerns about the health effects of other harmful substances in vaping products.
There is strong and consistent evidence that young people who vape are 3 times as likely to take up smoking, compared to those who don’t. The Government is proposing stronger regulation and enforcement of all e-cigarettes, including new controls on their importation, contents and packaging.
New measures aim to stamp out the growing black market in illegal vaping, including to:
- stop the import of non-prescription vapes
- increase the minimum quality standards for vapes including by restricting flavours, colours, and other ingredients
- require pharmaceutical-like packaging
- reduce the allowed nicotine concentrations and volumes
- ban all single use, disposable vapes.
A new public health information campaign will be developed to discourage Australians from taking up smoking and vaping, and encourage more people to quit.
A new National Lung Cancer Screening Program will provide screening to eligible current and former smokers, saving thousands of lives through early diagnosis and treatment.
Funding will build the capacity and capability of the Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services sector to support cancer care on the ground and also ensure mainstream cancer services are culturally safe and accessible
The Tackling Indigenous Smoking (TIS) program will be extended and widened to reduce vaping among First Nations people, while also maintaining efforts to reduce tobacco smoking.
