Wednesday, 13 November 2024

Public Accounts and Estimates Committee

Inquiry into Vaping and Tobacco Controls

Lauren KATHAGE (Yan Yean) (10:50): I wish to speak on the vaping and tobacco controls report on the inquiry by the Public Accounts and Estimates Committee, which was published just over eight weeks ago. Just over eight weeks ago the committee completed its inquiry, and I am glad to see that we have got related legislation before the Parliament this week. I want to focus not on that aspect of the inquiry but rather on the side of vaping and what was found by the committee.

Vaping, we read, is increasing in Victoria. Unfortunately there are over 500,000 people in Victoria over the age of 14 who are regular or irregular users of vapes, but we know that people under the age of 14 use them as well. As part of the inquiry the committee took evidence in Shepparton. We had multiple schools attend the hearing, who gave evidence of the number of students who are vaping at school, and it was quite concerning. There were private and government schools there, and some schools had invested in vaping detection equipment at the cost of some tens of thousands of dollars to try and deal with the students vaping at school. The schools reported that students that were vaping were as young as 10. Students themselves came and gave evidence and reported that vaping was becoming less cool for older students and was seen as something that the younger students did, such as grades 4, 5 and 6, which is horrifying. Certainly, anecdotally, I have seen that on a visit to a local school where we were discussing school toilets. We thought the toilets were empty, and we had been in there for a while talking about upgrades and then noticed that one of the cubicles had three pairs of feet in it, and the girls were busy there. Vaping is a problem in schools, so I am glad that we have got some evidence and some recommendations here to help us address that. Certainly there is already work underway, and I want to pay credit to VicHealth and the great work they are doing with resources and education to try and prevent and stop people from vaping.

The health impacts are not the only thing. We also have issues around the storage and disposal of illegal vapes that are seized or e-cigarettes. As part of the committee’s work we visited Border Force and Victoria Police. We saw how vapes are smuggled into the country and the means and the desperate lengths that these people go to to get these horrible things into our country. We saw for the police the difficulty or the work that is created for them, having to firstly store the vapes and then organise for their disposal, because they are not a simple thing to dispose of. They pose a risk to our environment, and when they are coming in in such numbers, we do not want to damage our community’s environment through inappropriate disposal. Something that the report calls out is the need to coordinate with the federal government to have a federal approach. This is an issue that all states in Australia are facing, so simple measures such as shared procurement of disposal partners I believe is eminently sensible and something that should continue to be pursued.

In chapter 6 we also see the options for helping with prevention and cessation activities. I really believe that co-design is the way to go with different target groups who are taking up vaping. Youth I have spoken about as one; we are also seeing an increase in new Australians who are taking up vaping, and I would like to see adult men – young men – targeted as well and for them themselves to come up with the most effective strategies to stop young men taking it up or keeping it up.