Australia’s tobacco policy has been slammed as a public health disaster amid concerns about industry influence. Public health experts warned earlier this year that the country’s political processes remain vulnerable to tobacco industry interference and influence.
They detailed tactics such as political donations and the revolving door of industry lobbyists who’ve previously worked in government. The National Party continues to accept tobacco money, and the use of front groups is also a concern.
These concerns were raised after tobacco giant Philip Morris Limited was invited to give evidence to a Senate inquiry into the illegal tobacco crisis. The company was permitted to do so behind closed doors without any public scrutiny.
Philip Morris was also allowed to give evidence behind closed doors to a New South Wales state parliament inquiry into the illegal tobacco trade. Australia signed the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in 2003, which calls for interaction with the industry to be minimized and transparent.
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The Liberal-led Senate inquiry recommended cutting tobacco excise, but Labor and Greens Senators opposed this recommendation and the tobacco industry’s involvement in the inquiry. The industry has long campaigned against tobacco taxes, which were described in a 1999 World Bank report as the most effective and cost-effective measure to reduce tobacco use and save lives.
The World Health Organization says significant increases in excise taxes that lead to price increases have consistently proven to be the most effective mechanism for reducing tobacco consumption. The Federal Opposition has announced plans to cut tobacco excise by 80 percent as part of a major law and order policy.
One Nation has also promised to slash the tax on tobacco by 75 percent. Simon Chapman AO, Emeritus Professor in Public Health at the University of Sydney, has described “reduce the tax” proposals as “commercially illiterate brain farts, devoid of the most elementary arithmetical argument and coated with staggering ignorance about the global trade in illegal tobacco”.
The Australian Council on Smoking and Health is deeply concerned that the illicit tobacco crisis is being used as a justification to wind back decades of successful tobacco control measures. ACOSH says slashing tobacco excise and expanding commercial vape sales will not stop criminal networks from importing, distributing, and selling illicit products.
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ACOSH has consistently called for a multi-pronged response to the illicit tobacco crisis, including far stronger border controls and better-resourced enforcement. ACOSH supports licensing only businesses that can demonstrate strong security, governance, and product traceability.
The Public Health Association of Australia is alarmed at Coalition and One Nation proposals, which risk increasing the uptake of nicotine addiction by children and slowing rates of quitting by adults. Australia has been winning the long fight to bring down nicotine addiction, with daily smoking prevalence down to 5.6 percent by 2025.
The proposed 80 percent tax cut for international tobacco companies that import tobacco products into Australia means any cut to the import tax will only boost the profits of tobacco companies, with no change to tobacco prices.
The Australian Medical Association said the Federal Coalition’s reckless proposal to slash tobacco excise by 80 percent and make vapes more accessible would undermine decades of public health efforts and could drive more Australians back to smoking.
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Making cigarettes more affordable is not the answer to tackling the illicit tobacco trade and would undermine Australia’s world-leading public health efforts to reduce smoking. Tobacco taxation has been a major contributor to Australia’s historically declining smoking rates.
Lower cigarette prices would likely increase smoking rates, particularly among price-sensitive groups such as young people and people experiencing socioeconomic disadvantage, widening health inequities.
Reducing the tobacco excise as a way of tackling the illegal tobacco industry was a simplistic, misguided, and ineffective solution to a complex problem. Alternative approaches to combating illicit tobacco include stronger border enforcement, supply-chain controls, retailer licensing, intelligence sharing, and targeted criminal enforcement.
It is a public health issue.