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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 10 Hansard (25 September) . . Page.. 3473 ..

2

Mr Speaker, I am delighted to table today a discussion paper which contains proposed amendments to two pieces of legislation: the Tobacco Act 1927 and the Business Franchise (Tobacco and Petroleum Products) Act 1984.

The amendments which are detailed in these drafts, and explained in the discussion paper, are based on `best practice' models for tackling the issues of juvenile tobacco access and tobacco advertising and promotion.

Each of these are important, as they typify the two facets of the Government's tobacco control strategy: controlling the supply and reducing the demand.

The development of these amendments has taken a considerable amount of time, during which tobacco issues have been firmly on the national and international agenda, and new provisions of the Smoke-free Areas Act took effect in the ACT.

Earlier this year, we had the launch of a national campaign highlighting the damage that each cigarette can cause to a smoker's health, and we have seen significant developments in the tobacco industry negotiations in the United States.

Given how much progress has been made in a number of areas, it is tempting to believe that the battle against tobacco use has been won. But the sobering facts are these:

- last week, Australian children under the age of 18 smoked more than 6 million cigarettes, many of them purchased from retail outlets;

- each year, seventy thousand Australian teenagers start smoking; and

- nineteen thousand Australians die each year from diseases caused by or related to smoking -- a habit which, for most of them, started well before they could make a mature decision about its long-term consequences.

Although many of the proposed changes to the legislation may seem innovative, I was interested to see that many of the options receiving serious consideration today have been on the public agenda since 1987, when they were suggested in an ACT Health Authority discussion paper.

Since that time, of course, a number of important changes have been made, reflecting the changing status of tobacco products and tobacco use in the community:

.. The minimum age to be sold cigarettes was raised from 16 to 18,

.. Most tobacco sponsorship of sport and the arts has been eliminated,

.. Tobacco advertising in print media has been phased out, as has cinema advertising,

.. The sale of cigarettes in packs of fewer than 20 has ended,

.. Vending machines have been restricted to licensed premises,

.. Restrictions have been put into place to prevent tobacco advertising from being visible
in a public place, and

.. People in the ACT are now protected from environmental tobacco smoke in enclosed
public places and workplaces.

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