A Coalition Government will introduce a regulated vaping model to crack down on crime and keep vapes out of the hands of Australian children.
No Australian wants to see children getting access to vaping products or becoming addicted to vaping. But under Labor, kids are being targeted by a thriving and dangerous black market.
Labor’s prohibition-style approach plays straight into the hands of organised crime syndicates, who are massively profiting from the sale of illegal vapes.
At the same time, communities have been put at risk by a spate of fire-bombings and extortion tactics targeting tobacco retailers in yet another failure on national security under the Albanese Labor Government.
The mess Labor has made on vaping will only drive more Australians to the black market.
If elected, a Coalition Government will pursue a strictly-regulated retail model for vaping products under the TGA to put a stop to dodgy retailers selling vapes to Australian children with impunity through the rampant black market.
This model will include a licencing scheme, prevention campaigns and strong enforcement efforts, as part of a sensible approach to keep money out of the hands of criminals while stopping the sale of vapes to children.
Our regulated approach will also address the dangerous and unknown chemicals contained in illegal vapes, by placing strict requirements on safety and quality.
Bringing Australia in line with European countries, a regulated model is in the best interests of both public health outcomes and law enforcement.
If you’re serious about protecting kids from vaping, you have to be serious about enforcement. The Coalition will provide 10 times more funding towards law enforcement than Labor through a $250 million law enforcement package.
This funding will be used to stand up an illegal tobacco and vaping taskforce led by the Australian Federal Police and the Australian Border Force to tackle illegal vapes from the border to the shopfront. This will provide desperately needed Commonwealth leadership to crack down on organised criminal activity and protect Australian children.
Shadow Minister for Health and Aged Care, Senator Anne Ruston said that young Australians becoming addicted to nicotine products like vapes could have a seriously detrimental impact on their health.
“But Australian children are getting ready access to flavoured vapes in colourful packaging because the law is not being enforced.
“The Government has been doubling down on an approach that is simply not working. Now, they have even conceded their model is failing by making their last-minute, dirty deal with the Greens.
“This deal seeks to have vapes sold by completely unwilling pharmacists. We know pharmacists want to use their valuable time to provide primary care advice to the community, not become “tobacconists and garbologists”.
“It has clearly not been thought out. Just one example is the fact that Queensland’s laws require all Schedule 3 medicines to be recorded, which is in direct conflict with this new Labor/Greens policy.
“Only the Coalition has the strength to be honest with the Australian public. The Government’s senseless and chaotic approach will not protect the health outcomes of young Australians who are already buying illicit vaping products.
“Regulating the vaping market through strict and sensible policies will protect our kids from the harms of vaping, and it will protect our community from organised crime,” Shadow Minister Ruston said.
Shadow Minister for Home Affairs and Cyber Security, Senator James Paterson, said “The Albanese Labor’s Government’s half-baked vaping proposal is naïve and flawed.
“Labor’s approach has seen money funnelled into the hands of organised crime syndicates, who are conducting an unprecedented campaign of violence and extortion on this Government’s watch.
“The Coalition will crack down on the criminal groups profiting from Labor’s approach and restore order to our communities”.
ENDS
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