Tammy Tyrrell (Tasmania, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is for the Minister representing the Minister for Health and Ageing, Senator McAllister. A Roy Morgan survey from July 2025 found that smoking rates have increased since the federal government's vaping sales ban was introduced in mid-2024. While the number of vapers has fallen slightly, by 40,000, the number of people smoking factory-made cigarettes has gone up by 120,000 since the year ending September 2024. Amongst Australians aged 18 to 24, the situation is same. Two young Australians report taking up smoking cigarettes for every young Australian taking up vaping. I'm offering this as context to demonstrate that the question I'm asking is not hypothetical. My question is: will the Albanese government consider the ban on vaping a success if it reduces the number of vapers and increases the number of smokers?

Jenny McAllister (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Tyrrell for her question, and I can be very clear about this. Our objective is to protect people—in particular, young people but all people—from the harms that arise from both smoking and vaping. It is why our vaping reforms are so significant. As you well know—as, I'm sure, in the community in which you live—many parents were deeply worried about the rates of vaping that were appearing in young people—in children and in young adults. Some of the evidence was suggesting that the promise that vaping would be a pathway for people to cease smoking was, in fact, not being realised and instead vaping, in some instances, was leading to children or young people taking up smoking. It's why we placed such an emphasis on these reforms.

We acknowledge that it will take time to see significant decreases in vaping and smoking, but we're here for the long haul. We want a healthier Australia for future generations, and we're working against two big opponents. We are up against big tobacco and we are up against organised crime. To date the Therapeutic Goods Administration and the Australian Border Force have seized more than 10 million illicit vapes with a current street value of almost half a billion dollars since January 2024. The evidence that we rely upon, the most significant body of evidence, comes from the Generation Vape project, and it shows that the rate of vaping is dropping—that it dropped from 20 to 18 per cent among 18- to 24-year-olds between 2023 and now.

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Tyrrell, first supplementary?

Tammy Tyrrell (Tasmania, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Department of Health, Disability and Ageing describes the Cochrane review as high-quality, independent evidence. The Australian Pregnancy Care Guidelines reference Cochrane every fourth page. In fact, Australian taxpayers fund it every year via the National Health and Medical Research Council. Yet the academics hand-picked by the Albanese government to review vaping health impacts, who drew the opposite conclusion to the Cochrane review, argued the Cochrane review was unreliable. Does the Albanese government agree with Cochrane that there is high-certainty evidence that electronic cigarettes— (Time expired)

Jenny McAllister (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In the absence of a question, I am trying to think about useful information that I may provide to Senator Tyrrell. I will say this, and I made reference to this in my answer to your primary question: one in three people who vape are likely to take up smoking, and that is why we see these two issues as interlinked. It's why it is now unlawful to supply, manufacture, import or sell a vape outside of a pharmacy setting, and it's also why, at the same time, we are cracking down on illicit tobacco and we're putting the people who profit from this black market on notice.

We recently announced an additional sum of money, $156 million, to help tackle the tobacco black market, and that comes on top of an existing investment of $188.5 million that we made in January 2024, which provided resources for a major Border Force crackdown and strengthened cooperation between the Commonwealth, states and territories. (Time expired)

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Tyrrell, second supplementary?

Tammy Tyrrell (Tasmania, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

If you ban vapes but permit the sale of cigarettes, isn't it completely predictable that nicotine-addicted people would start smoking cigarettes? When you make the best way to quit cigarettes illegal—and cigarettes are the only legal consumer products that kill up to half of their users when used exactly as intended by the manufacturer—and you keep cigarettes legal, then the question is: what else did you think was going to happen?

Jenny McAllister (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Tyrrell, our objective is to see fewer people either using tobacco or vaping. The reason that we pursue these interventions, as I'm sure you understand, is that these substances have really, really negative impacts on people's health. If a person has an addiction to nicotine then we would strongly encourage them to consult their GP and obtain advice about the options for treating nicotine addiction. There are a range of supports for people who want to quit smoking. There are a range of supports for people who want to end the use of e-cigarettes. You can approach the Quitline; it's 137 848. It's also the case that there are some smoking-cessation products that are subsidised on PBS to provide financial support to help people quit smoking.