Tuesday, 27 May 2025

Public Accounts and Estimates Committee

Inquiry into Vaping and Tobacco Controls

Ella GEORGE (Lara) (11:33): It is a pleasure to rise today and speak on the Public Accounts and Estimates Committee’s recent report into vaping and tobacco controls. I would like to thank the entire committee – including the Chair, the member for Laverton – and the secretariat for their important work in investigating how the Victorian government can better regulate the use of vapes and tobacco, minimise tobacco and e-cigarette harm in the community and control the illicit industry in Victoria. This inquiry was initiated in February 2024 because of the health concerns and economic impacts of such products and due to the growing illicit trade in both cigarettes and vapes. The Allan Labor government then subsequently announced the introduction of a tobacco licensing scheme after the legislation to amend the Tobacco Act 1987 was passed in November. This demonstrates that our government is committed to prioritising the health and safety of Victorians, and this committee report helps to inform us on how we can show our ongoing commitment.

I understand that the committee received 115 submissions into this inquiry, which demonstrates the community’s high interest in understanding the extent of vaping and tobacco use in Victoria and effective control options for the illicit e-cigarette and tobacco industry in the state. The committee’s priority recommendation is to establish a Victorian nicotine licensing scheme, an active regulatory authority to sit within the Department of Justice and Community Safety.

Every year we lose 4000 people to smoking, and it remains the leading cause of premature death and disease in Victoria, which displays how necessary this inquiry’s report and recommendations are. The chair describes in her foreword that vaping, a different way of ingesting nicotine, has become increasingly common in this state but amongst a different group: younger Victorians, including children. As the committee heard throughout the inquiry, considerable data gaps exist for tobacco and vape users under the age of 14, and while tobacco use has declined over the past 20 years in Victoria, there has been a rapid growth in vape usage, particularly within these younger age groups. The committee also found that tobacco users are more likely to be from regional areas and have a lower socio-economic status than those who use vapes.

I chose to speak on this committee report today as I believe it is of significant importance to the Lara electorate due to the impacts that the vape and tobacco industry have on the community of the electorate and the broader Geelong region, especially among children and young people. Greater Geelong has a notably higher smoking rate – 12.1 per cent of adults smoke – in comparison to the state average of 10. 9 per cent, and these statistics align with finding 3 of the report, which in part states that:

… smokers are more likely to live in disadvantaged areas, in regional and remote areas rather than major cities …

In the year 2022–23, 30 per cent of secondary school students used or had used vapes in Victoria, and there are many schools within the Lara electorate in particular that have had reports of vaping, which is why recommendation 3 of this report was of great interest to me. The recommendation suggests that:

The Department of Education, in collaboration with the Department of Health, examine the barriers school children face in accessing support for nicotine use and addiction, including whether current programs are sufficient to determine if a dedicated counselling and support program for primary and secondary school children … needs to be set up and rolled out across Victoria.

I know that people in my electorate would be very supportive of this work taking place, as vaping is a prevalent issue in the Lara electorate and the broader Geelong region. I look forward to seeing the government work in this space over the years to come to do everything it can to support younger students and their health.

Furthermore, finding 47 of the report states that:

The majority of parents see preventing children from vaping as a … public health priority.

I believe that this is an accurate finding based on what I have heard from many constituents, including parents at local schools, and teachers.

With this report’s 27 recommendations and 47 findings, it is great to see that there are so many recommendations around addressing tobacco and e-cigarette use, in particular in regional and low socio-economic communities and around young people’s use of vapes, that directly relate to the Lara electorate. Once again, I would like to thank the entire committee for putting together this important report, which addresses this important topic of smoking and e-cigarette use and the illicit trade industry of these products. I commend their work, and I commend this report.