![The Australian Medical Association has welcomed new laws discouraging smoking and vaping. File picture The Australian Medical Association has welcomed new laws discouraging smoking and vaping. File picture](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/silverstone-feed-data/2e6a0c49-9058-4922-aad6-1e899130f328.jpg/r0_0_703_516_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
The Australian Medical Association has welcomed new laws discouraging smoking and vaping.
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The AMA has lodged its submission to the Department of Health and Aged Care's consultation on the Public Health (Tobacco and Other Products) Legislation 2023, supporting the measures introduced in the bill.
In its submission, the AMA says the new measures would reduce disease, disability, and premature death caused by smoking and vaping.
AMA president Professor Steve Robson said the reforms were a step towards achieving the goal of a five per cent or less smoking prevalence in Australia by 2030, as set out by the National Tobacco Strategy 2023-2030.
"The new legislation will bring together a range of existing laws and will simplify current tobacco laws by bringing multiple pieces of legislation into a single bill," Professor Robson said.
"For too long, Australia has had too many loopholes and blind spots in which the predatory tobacco industry has been able to lure our younger generations into taking up recreational vaping.
"The ease of access, the bright colours and fruity flavours, and false assertions the products were free of nicotine have all contributed to an imminent public health disaster. Right under our noses, we saw generations quitting cigarettes while young Australians were taking up vapes."
Professor Robson said while the AMA supports the restrictions on tobacco products, it is concerned that the tobacco industry can still attempt to influence Australia's tobacco laws.
"It is disappointing to see that while most politicians are doing the right thing and tightening these restrictions, big tobacco can still furnish political parties with donations, gifts, and electoral expenditures," he said.
"We want parties on all sides to get real and refuse to enter arrangements that clearly compromise government policy-making on public health matters.
"The only reason the tobacco and e-cigarette industry is lobbying politicians is to try to create conditions that foster and support the growth of their businesses.
"Legal and political efforts by the tobacco industry have hampered tobacco control efforts.
"We need politicians to put the health of all Australians ahead of the dirty dollars received from big tobacco."
However, the AMA says that e-cigarette legislation introduced in the new bill is an interim measure until a ban on non-prescription e-cigarettes is enforced.
Until then, Professor Robson said the AMA supports plans to ban the advertising of e-cigarettes, including targeted online advertising via algorithms and implementing new reporting requirements for the tobacco industry.
"We urge all governments to work together to quickly implement the retail ban on e-cigarettes," he said.
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