The Victorian Greens welcome today's 'Vaping and tobacco controls' report from the Public Accounts and Estimates Committee, calling on the Victorian Labor Government to establish a nicotine licensing scheme to better manage vaping and tobacco products.
Victorian Greens spokesperson for population health, Dr Tim Read, said the government had spent 2 years sitting on Better Regulation Victoria's report which called for such a scheme, and should waste no more time in listening to its own committee's advice.
Smoking is the leading cause of preventable death and disease in Australia, but Victoria is currently the only state in the country that does not have a tobacco retail licensing scheme.
A minority report from committee member and Greens MP, Aiv Puglielli, also called for a legislated state and federal ban on donations from tobacco companies to political parties.
Since 2021, the Greens have consistently called on the government to establish a statewide licensing scheme to ensure adherence to relevant laws, reduce the damage and violence arising from the black market, and improve public health outcomes.
As stated by Victorian Greens Spokesperson for Population Health, Dr Tim Read:
"Given the Labor government has had years to prepare for this, we look forward to its speedy implementation.
"Right now Victoria is the only state where your cafe or your hairdresser could start selling cigarettes, and right now the only enforcement seems to be firebombing by gangsters.
"Public health officials should know where tobacco retailers are and should be able to close them down if they sell cigarettes to children."
As stated by Victorian Greens Spokesperson for Drug Harm Reduction, Aiv Puglielli:
"It's clear that what Labor has been doing in Victoria isn't working. Now that it's been spelled out for them in an inquiry report, they must act on the evidence.
"All political parties need to take the harms from tobacco in our community seriously. This is not about ideology - this is about preventing harm.
"The days of tobacco companies influencing politicians must come to an end.
"The Labor Premier must legislate a ban on political donations from tobacco companies and tell her Federal colleagues to do the same."
