Thursday, 20 March 2025

 David LIMBRICK (South-Eastern Metropolitan) (09:43): I would like to thank everyone who participated in and came to the landmark tobacco wars community summit that was held at Parliament by my team last Sunday. In particular I would like to thank some of the participants: Dr James Martin from Deakin University, a criminologist who had some excellent views; Pippa Starr from ALIVE Advocacy Movement, who is promoting the voices of people who are trying to give up smoking; Rob Berry, who is a former vape store owner who had his business destroyed by government laws; Dr Alex Wodak, who is a doctor who specialises in addiction medicine; and also Professor Marewa Glover from New Zealand, who gave some perspectives from a country that has more sensible tobacco policies than Australia. Everyone who participated in this I think, and the people watching, would have come to the conclusion that there are many people that are concerned about the path that Victoria and Australia is heading down with our current tobacco policies. We need radical reform if we are going to get this market out of the hands of organised crime and back into a legal market. The path that the Victorian government is heading down in particular will not work through enforcement. We need to take a different path.