Help us to reach our goal of banning the leading cause of preventable death in Australia, help us gradually ban smoking. 

 

For the last few years, we have been bombarded with media about the dangers of vaping to adults and our young children. Whilst I tend to agree, we are missing the bigger picture, the leading cause of preventable death in this previous country. The very thing we have known to cause adverse health effects and death since at least the 1950s. 

We have new laws coming into play every year now to control or prevent vaping, yet smoking continues to increase tax revenue for the country whilst sending people to an early grave and tearing families apart. 

Accordingly to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), smoking kills almost 20,500 Australians each year (13% of all deaths). Additionally smoking is responsible for 8.6% of the total burden of disease in Australia, in 2018. 

 

Smoking is associated with an increased risk of a wide range of health conditions, including: heart disease, diabetes, stroke, cancer, renal disease, eye disease and respiratory conditions such as asthma, emphysema and bronchitis.

 

Smoking does not just affect smokers, it affects non-smokers too. The community at large being impacted by secondhand and thirdhand smoking, arguably worse than smoking itself. 

 

Why is it still legal when we have know about the lethality of smoking for over half a century? One answer could be that the Australian Government received over $14.3 billion in tobacco related excise in the year between 2020 and 2021 alone. This seems a good reason to keep tobacco around right?

 

Wrong. Despite the above amount that the government collects from the tobacco excise, the healthcare costs related to smoking in our country are astronomically larger. The latest figures from 2019 show that smoking costs our government around $137 billion annually in healthcare expenditure. That is over 9.5 times the amount it makes in revenue, and there are likely more costs not even accounted for in the figures. 

So surely with the numbers in black and white we would put a stop to this? The answer sadly is no. So what can the government do you ask?

 

We propose that the Health Minister, Hon Mark Butler seek to implement both legislation and strategy to improve the health of all Australians into the future, reduce the cost burden of smoking from government spending and create a better place for all to live. 

 

First and foremost it would be important to address that it would be remiss to implement an ill thought out prohibition effective immediately. But instead, follow in the path of NZ and move to phase out smoking, by permanently banning the sale of cigarettes to anyone born after 2004. People born in 2004 would currently be 18 and of legal age to purchase cigarettes. 

 

But this alone is not enough, as we know, smoking is as addictive as it is deadly. This is where the Australian Government also needs to implement a range of initiatives to support people in quitting smoking, recovering from addiction and bettering their lives and mental health. It is proposed the government would adopt a range of initiative such as fully subsidised nicotine replacement therapies, addiction counselling, and mental health supports. 

What can you do? Sign this petition and share this petition with everyone you know, and ask them to sign it. Secondly, contact your local member of parliament to show your support in the cause, you can find who your local member is via postcode in the link below. You can also contact the Health Minister, Mark Butler, to request him to start affecting change now (link also below). Lastly, you can help out by by encouraging those around you to quit smoking and be a good support for them in their journey. 

 

Additionally you can read some additional resources below regarding some of the figures given above and another smoking and quit smoking facts. 

 

LINKS AND RESOURCES

 

Local MP link:

https://www.aph.gov.au/Senators_and_Members/Members

 

Hon Mark Butler - Contact Details:

https://markbutler.net.au/contact/

Smoking statistics:

https://www.abs.gov.au/articles/pandemic-insights-australian-smokers-2020-21#:~:text=Tobacco%20smoking%20is%20one%20of,Australia%20in%202018%5B1%5D

 

Tobacco Excise:

https://www.ato.gov.au/About-ATO/Research-and-statistics/In-detail/Tax-gap/Tobacco-tax-gap/?anchor=Trendsandlatestfindings1#:~:text=Over%20this%20period%2C%20increasing%20excise,%2414.3%20billion%20in%202020–21

Smoking Related Costs:

https://www1.racgp.org.au/newsgp/professional/smoking-costs-australia-close-to-137-billion

Smoking Information - Cancer Council:

https://www.cancer.org.au/cancer-information/causes-and-prevention/smoking

 

Further Information:

https://www.tobaccoinaustralia.org.au/chapter-3-health-effects/3-30-total-burden-of-death-and-disease-attributable-to-tobacco-by-disease-category

 

https://www.tobaccoinaustralia.org.au/chapter-4-secondhand/4-7-estimates-of-morbidity-and-mortality