{"id":1663,"date":"2022-12-22T22:23:48","date_gmt":"2022-12-22T22:23:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/tc\/?p=1663"},"modified":"2022-12-21T20:47:18","modified_gmt":"2022-12-21T20:47:18","slug":"government-picking-up-the-reigns-on-tobacco-control-in-australia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/tc\/2022\/12\/22\/government-picking-up-the-reigns-on-tobacco-control-in-australia\/","title":{"rendered":"Government picking up the reigns on tobacco control in Australia"},"content":{"rendered":"

Michelle Scollo and Sarah Durkin<\/strong><\/p>\n

Australia was one of the first countries in the world<\/a> to introduce large-scale Quit smoking public education campaigns and to introduce tobacco package health warnings. It was one of the first countries to end the advertising of tobacco products in print media, in cinemas and outdoors. It was the first country in the world to use taxes on tobacco products not just to make tobacco products less affordable but also to replace tobacco sponsorship contracts with sporting and arts organisations. And Australia was the first government in the world (ten years ago<\/a> last Thursday 1st<\/sup> December 2022) to mandate plain packaging of tobacco products, legislation which the subsequent Government successfully defended through the second and third of three major legal challenges.<\/a><\/p>\n

Australia\u2019s status over the last decade however has changed from \u2018leader\u2019 to \u2018laggard\u2019. Apart from strong tax policies that have resulted in significant increases in the prices of tobacco products,<\/a> the last ten years have been uneventful for tobacco control. That changed on 30th<\/sup> November 2022, with the Minister for Health announcing a package of reforms that will help take Australia back up to international best practice is several crucial areas.<\/p>\n

Australia\u2019s current patchwork<\/a> of eight different tobacco-related laws, regulations and court-endorsed and voluntary agreements is badly outdated and full of gaps and loopholes. The Australian Government\u2019s \u201cReignite the Fight Against Tobacco Addiction<\/a>\u201d reforms seek to consolidate these into one piece of comprehensive national tobacco control legislation, updating and extending several major areas of regulation in the process.<\/p>\n

First, the Government will update and improve current graphic health warnings on tobacco products. In line with findings from several international research projects<\/a>, (e.g., Figure 1) it is also looking to make individual cigarettes dissuasive with unattractive colours or, as set out in proposed regulations for upgraded pictorial health warnings in Canada<\/a>, to mandate warnings on individual cigarette sticks.<\/p>\n

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Figure 1 <\/strong>Consumer warnings for cigarette sticks, as tested by Mitchell et al<\/em> 2020<\/a><\/p>\n

The reforms will also require Canadian-style inserts in packs and pouches to provide consumers with more cessation focussed information.<\/p>\n

Proving that there is no such thing as \u2018set and forget\u2019 in tobacco control, the tobacco industry in Australia, left pretty much to get on with \u2018business as usual\u2019 has been engaging in aggressive price-related promotion, and has developed product gimmicks such as recessed filters and flavoured \u2018crush-balls\u2019 that distract<\/a> from the essential harmfulness of its products. The Government\u2019s reforms announced at the end of November 2022 will<\/p>\n