Jan McLucas (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities and Carers) Share this | Hansard source

I table a supplementary explanatory memorandum relating to government amendments to be moved to the Tobacco Plain Packaging Bill 2011. The memorandum was circulated in the chamber on 7 November 2011. By leave—I move government amendments (1) to (3) on sheet BN220 together:

(1)   Clause 2, pages 2 and 3 (table), omit the table (not including the note), substitute:

[commencement]

(2)   Clause 18, page 21 (lines 7 to 9), omit paragraph (3)(c), substitute:

  (c)   the inside lip of the cigarette pack must have straight edges, other than corners which may be rounded, and neither the lip, nor the edges of the lip, may be bevelled or otherwise shaped or embellished in any way;

[inside lip]

(3)   Page 28 (after line 11), after clause 27, insert:

27A Legal effect of sections 18 to 27

     Sections 18 to 27 have no legal effect other than to specify requirements, and provide for regulations specifying requirements, for the purposes of the definition of tobacco product requirement in subsection 4(1).

Note:   Chapters 3 and 5 contain the offences and civil penalty provisions for failing to comply with a tobacco product requirement.

[legal effect of sections 18 to 27]

The government is committed to reducing the national smoking rate to 10 per cent of the population by 2018 and halving the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander smoking rate. The Tobacco Plain Packaging Bill 2011 is a crucial step in the government's anti-smoking action which includes the 25 per cent excise increase announced in April of 2010, record investment in anti-smoking social marketing campaigns, legislation to restrict advertising of tobacco products on the internet, listing of nicotine replacement therapies on the PBS and investments in Indigenous tobacco control. Plain packaging will remove one of the last remaining forms of tobacco advertising. It will restrict to industry logos, brand imagery, colours and promotional text.

The bill was passed by the House of Representatives with the accompanying Trade Marks Amendment (Tobacco Plain Packaging) Bill 2011 on 24 August of this year. Following delays to parliamentary consideration of the bill and to ensure that there is sufficient time for the industry to comply before the penalty provisions commence the government proposes amendments to the bill. These amendments do not alter the bill's approach to plain packaging of tobacco products. Amendments to the commencement of the bill are proposed in order to allow a longer lead time for implementation of the bill following its delayed package.

Under this proposal the preliminary provisions that previously commenced on 1 January 2012 will now commence on royal assent. The offences relating to prohibition of manufacture of noncompliant product in Australia will now commence on 1 October 2012; previously 20 May 2012. The remaining offences relating to retail sale of noncompliant product will now commence on 1 December 2012; previously 1 July 2012.

In addition amendment to the commencement of clauses 17 to 27 is proposed to move their commencement date to be in line with the commencement of the manufacturing offences on 1 October 2012. This amendment is intended to make clear that these provisions have no legal effect independent of the offences in chapter 3 and the enforcement provisions in chapter 5 of the bill. This change is supported by the second amendment which inserts a new provision at clause 27A to state that sections 18 to 27 have no legal effect other than to specify requirements or permit regulations that specify requirements to be made for the purposes of the definition of tobacco product requirement in the bill. Finally, I am introducing a minor amendment to paragraph 18(3)(c) to address a technical implementation issue relating to the requirement that the inside lip of cigarette packs have a straight edge. Meeting this would require retooling of machinery, which would lead to implementation delays. The amendment I am introducing will allow the use of rounded corners on the inside lip to avoid the need for change to manufacturing processes, which would be difficult to achieve within the proposed implementation time frames. I commend the amendments to the chamber.