Timeline:
21 November 2024:
"In an inquiry regarding therapeutic amendments for vaping three months ago, at the end of the inquiry I asked the department, 'What does failure look like?' They said, 'We haven't looked at that.' Well, they can look out the window and they can see what failure looks like now. Failure is 150 firebombings of businesses throughout Australia. Failure is only 3½ thousand vapes going across the counter at pharmacists in the last month. Failure is one in 100 pharmacists agreeing to do it because they don't want to be firebombed. Failure is 400,000 vapes a month being caught illegally, and that's only the tip of the iceberg.
I'm all for small government, but when it comes to outsourcing our nicotine consumption, I do not want to give it to organised crime. I do not want to outsource what goes into nicotine products to organised crime gangs, most of which have come out of China. I don't want to outsource what they give our kids and what they give people in Australia who are trying to get off nicotine and smoking.
Since this inquiry, it's estimated 100,000 vapers have gone back to smoking. I hear the government say, 'We are fighting big tobacco.' You are driving people back to big tobacco; you are driving people to criminal enterprises. This is what failure looks like. We look at Sweden in comparison. For the first time they are equivalent to smoke-free, less than five per cent of their population is smoking. They have done it through pouches, they have done it through vapes, they have done it through other nicotine replacement therapies. That is what success looks like.
What we have now is an absolute abrogation of our duty to keep our people safe, keep our businesses safe, keep our pharmacists safe. I have a constituent in Newcastle who does not have a vape store in a commercial building—they have a hairdresser and some residents—but they cannot get insurance because next door to them is a vape store. What are we becoming when honest businesses can't get insurance because of government policies?"
20 August 2024:
"In just under six weeks the legislation that we passed in here that will mean vapes will be sold by pharmacies and pharmacies alone comes into effect. Before we get to that six weeks, there will be 100 fire bombings of tobacconists or vape stores reached, as organised crime fills the gap in the market.
When I spoke on the bill, as a nonsmoker or vaper, I was able to go to a place in Canberra and buy a vape for $25 across the counter, even when they were illegal. The legislation we've got has changed, and, if props were allowed, I would reach through this green box on my desk and I would pick up a single-use HQD vape that I was able to purchase in Canberra. We haven't stopped it; we've raised the price. It is now $60. Others in this chamber have told me you can buy them for $50 in Sydney or two for $90. All this legislation has done is increase the profit margin of organised crime. It has driven people who are trying to get off smoking and take up vaping to become criminals, to drive their money to criminals, and that is not what we should be doing.
They are getting around the single-use ban. This box that I won't put up in front of me because it would be a prop contains a HQD spicy mint vape. They get around the single-use ban by putting a battery charger on it. You can't refill it; you can't use it again, but, because it's got a battery charger, it's no longer single use. The crime and the violence and the profits in serious organised crime—we heard the evidence. This is driving money to criminals and driving people who want to get off smoking, people who want to harm minimise, to put their money in the hands of criminals. It is poor legislation. It is clearly not working, not when I can buy it. If you want to stop vapes getting into the hands of kids—it's right there. I bought it. It's illegal. It's wrong. Stop celebrating this failure."
25 June 2024:
"This is not a good bill. This doesn't stop vapes that we don't know the origin, contents and damage of from ending up in Australia. We will see more fire bombings in Melbourne. We will see more threats to shop owners. We will see more damage to young people. We will see more drive-by shootings because of this bill. The gang wars in Victoria especially are alive and well because there is money to be made in illegal vapes, and this doesn't stop it. I am disappointed in this bill."
"We hear those opposite and those in the corner talk about the tactics used by industry and big tobacco to get people hooked. These are crime gangs. We see them firebombing vapes stores. We see them threatening people in convenience stores. This isn't big tobacco; this is serious organised crime, as was said by the Australian Federal Police, in one of our hearings, and as was said by the police union. It is not big tobacco, and it is not industry. They are criminals. And why do they do this? It's because the profits are real—massive—and the penalties have been short"
"People should be able to use vapes if they want to, in my opinion. It is not nicotine that causes cancer; it is smoking that causes cancer. If nicotine can be bought in gums, patches and pouches, why can nicotine not come in vapes? It is tobacco and smoking that cause the problem here, and over a million Australians, 1.7 million, have a right to use vapes and have access to them. It is their choice."
'What does failure look like? What is the youth smoking rate that we'll accept going up if pull these vapes?' And the answer was, 'We haven't done that yet.' So, here we go. We don't know what success looks like, we don't know what failure looks like, we don't have compensation for people whose business we'll take away, and this will pass. That is sad. As I ended my statements in the committee, this is a farce, but it is a farce that will pass."