Wednesday, 19 November 2025

 Ryan BATCHELOR (Southern Metropolitan) (17:46): I rise to speak on the Victorian Health Promotion Foundation’s annual report, which was tabled on 30 October. VicHealth since 1987 has been making a real difference to our healthcare system and the health outcomes of all Victorians. What I wanted to reflect on in this contribution is not VicHealth’s overall work but the work that they do partnering with Quit Victoria. Along with the Department of Health, they are one of the two big funders of Quit Victoria. Recently Quit Victoria celebrated its 40th anniversary, and I wanted to congratulate Quit and all the staff there for 40 wonderful years of leading tobacco control efforts here in Victoria and to commemorate their milestones.

Quit recently launched a new campaign called So Many Reasons, and it is continuing its work promoting cessation services like Quitline – which operates here in Victoria but also services other jurisdictions as well so that people who want to get some help to quit smoking have got somewhere to go – as well as continuing its work advocating against the tobacco industry. Quit helps people by doing two things: it focuses on denormalising the culture of smoking through communication campaigns and through regulation, and it also provides cessation support. If you can remember back before 1985, before Quit was a feature of public health in Victoria, tobacco was everywhere: advertised on billboards, in print, in cinemas and in retail settings. It sponsored arts events and it sponsored sporting events. It was everywhere, and there were no health warnings. Smoke-free areas did not exist. People smoked in the office, at the pub, on aeroplanes, in restaurants and of course at home, in cars and around children.

When the then Anti-Cancer Council, as it was, the Heart Foundation and the Victorian government in 1984 got together and launched the No Butts campaign, what we did not know was that that would spark the establishment of Quit Victoria, which was established in 1985 following the huge success of their first efforts. Quit Victoria has become an iconic brand here in Victoria. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, supported by the new VicHealth and funded through an excise on tobacco products, the Quit logo and the Quit message soon appeared in all sorts of places, including on AFL jerseys, at surfing competitions, at skating competitions and at youth events right across the board. As I mentioned earlier, the significant and now nationally accessible Quitline was launched in 1985, giving resources and counselling to people trying to quit smoking. Importantly, Quit has never been shy at taking on the powerful interests of the tobacco industry. It has been persistent, it has been evidence based and it has fought the tobacco industry every step of the way to make our community safer.

Their work is not done. They have achieved a lot, but their work is not done. Smoking is still an addiction that kills. Cigarettes are products where, if you use them exactly as the manufacturer intends, there is a pretty good chance they are going to kill you. And we know of the scourge of vaping in our community, which has undermined a lot of the efforts that we have made particularly here in Victoria on tobacco control and smoking cessation. With things like nicotine patches on the way, the work of Quit Victoria is ever more important. They have had a great 40 years so far – 40 years of progress and 40 years of impact. I say thank you to Quit. Here is to 40 more years.