Wednesday, 11 September 2024

Public Accounts and Estimates Committee

Inquiry into Vaping and Tobacco Controls

Pauline RICHARDS (Cranbourne) (10:47): I am pleased to have the opportunity to congratulate the Public Accounts and Estimates Committee on their vaping and tobacco control inquiry and the report that has come from that. I think it is a really important report, which has come from a body of work that I think in many ways shows Parliament at its best. I note particularly the contribution of the chair, the member for Laverton, and the work that she was very active around. I thank the member for Gippsland South for his longstanding work as part of the Public Accounts and Estimates Committee, the member for Point Cook, the member for Clarinda, the member for Yan Yean and many others in the other place as well.

I am affected by so much of the work, which has made some particularly important findings, and I think some of the findings confirmed what we were understanding already, which is that nicotine affects the developing adolescent brain, potentially causing long-term cognitive and emotional issues. There are rising rates of vaping among young people, with significant concern about nicotine addiction that has come from those increases, and there is no doubt appeal in flavours like fruit punch candy that make vaping attractive to young people.

I know that there are some people who made outstanding contributions as part of the evidence of this inquiry, and I do want to take a moment to acknowledge both VicHealth and the Cancer Council Victoria for the very deep and thoughtful evidence that was led at the inquiry and recognise that the inquiry actually heard evidence from people with very different views on what the findings are on vaping.

The prevalence of vaping is alarming, and as somebody who represents an electorate in the south-east I know that Cranbourne, Dandenong and Frankston have high rates of youth vaping – actually higher than the state average, which is a real problem. We cannot overstate the concern about this.

I am going to take the opportunity to recognise some work that has been done over many years and particularly in this context Mr Batchelor in the other place, who used his inaugural speech to talk about the importance of making sure that we address rising youth vaping rates. Many of the elements of this report and the findings from the inquiry do replicate what Mr Batchelor was indicating in his inaugural. I am really grateful as well that the member has been agitating about this as not just an important policy opportunity but a piece of policy that actually we need to be focused on and make sure that our attention is laser-like on with some urgency.

There is no question in my mind that big tobacco companies have invested their extensive resources and marketing expertise to shape the market as a part of their investment in vaping and that there are what I perceive to be deceptive practices. Certainly they were initially making claims about the safety and benefits of their products with this incorrect position that they were taking that it was some sort of smoking cessation program, but we know now, and the data bears out our deepest fears.

I am going to also just acknowledge John Safran and the work that Mr Safran did in one of his books, Puff Piece. I am a bit of a John Safran evangelist. He spoke about industry manipulation in his book, and I did, in reading his book, then send pieces and copies of his quotes and in fact a copy of the book to people I thought would find it as compelling reading as I did. He talked about how the industry downplays the risks and uses psychological tactics to appeal to young people, and he also identified the flavours as part of the addiction.

I also just want to quote Dr Sandro Demaio, the CEO of VicHealth, who said Victorian children as young as eight are being offered e-cigarettes and 10-year-olds are calling Quitline in tears. We need to do something about this.