Smoking in Australia
Data collected by the Cancer Council of Victoria and the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare's National Drug Strategy Household Surveys in 2015 showed the most common form of tobacco smoked in Australia was factory made cigarettes.
[2] Unbranded loose tobacco, sometimes known as chop-chop in Australia, sold illegally without government taxation, was used by 9% of smokers in 2023 according to the National Drug Strategy Household Survey in that year.
[6] In the early 1700s, tobacco smoking was introduced to the north dwelling indigenous communities through the visitation of the Indonesian fishermen.
[11] More importantly, the cheapness and ease of accessibility of these manufactured cigarettes, revolutionised the way Australians smoke tobacco.
[14] However, in the 1990s the Industry Commission Inquiry found that tobacco had the greatest subsidisation in agriculture within Australia, and thus the Local Leaf Content Scheme was abolished.
[1] The downward trend of the reduction of smoking amongst underage individuals from the late 1990s, was accompanied with the introduction of the National Tobacco Campaign.
[42] Underage Australian students who participated in smoking purchased cigarettes most commonly from outlets such as retail markets and service stations.
[47] This department aims to reduce children's access to tobacco by investigating possible breaches of this act and increasing community aid to educate minors.
[42] New South Wales has adopted a comprehensive program following the amendments to the Public Health Act 1991, in 1996, due to the rising rate of underage smoking, and their ease in accessing tobacco products.
[50] Underage access to tobacco in Victoria is handled through a combination of domestic laws and local projects.
[51] Educational programs run by QUIT Victoria, assists in informing retailers and making them aware about legislative issues.
[42] However, a high number of councils within Victoria undertake their own compliance testing as the Department of Health and Human Services provides a password protected, educational and enforcement resources online, to assist them in understanding the obligations set by The Tobacco Act 1987, and therefore enforcing and ensuring retailers are compliant.
[42] This legislation also allows the government to prosecute retailers or seize tobacco products from underage individuals who are found to be smoking.
[56] This act was amended in 2019, coming into effect on 1 July 2019, which legislated that tobacco vending machines will not be allowed to be placed in a liquor licensed area, were an individual under the age of 18 can enter and easily access it.
[57] Future plans to stop underage smoking in Northern Territory, includes The Tobacco Action Plan 2019–2023, which aims to acknowledge the standards under the National Partnership Agreement on Preventive Health (NPAPH) and ultimately control tobacco supply to children under the age of 18, by implementing distinctive activities to improve underage smoking rates in Northern Territory.
[59] In 1995, the Ministerial Council on Drug Strategy (MCDS) was created, consisting of a myriad of political leaders and ministers all around Australia.
[62] This advertisement followed an increase in the percentage of young women adults wanting to reduce their daily smoking rates.
[42] The advertisements recognised that smokers could be encouraged to give up smoking by accentuating that in ceasing tobacco use, ex-smokers gain more from the act than they sacrifice.
[66] The campaign introduced 6 media campaigns (entitled 'Artery', 'Lung', 'Tumour', 'Brain', 'Eye' and 'Tar') between the years of 1997 and 2000, intending to appeal to people of lower socioeconomic status by illustrating that individuals in this cross section of society had the highest smoking rates and suffered the highest levels of smoking related disease.
[67] During 2006 new regulations for packaging of tobacco products were introduced, consisting of graphical warnings about the consequences of smoking.
[64] Since March 2006, items containing tobacco which were imported for sale or manufactured within Australia need to display the confronting images, warning individuals about the dangers of smoking.
Plain packaging also prevents the use of misleading terms, and reduces subsequent erroneous beliefs held by smokers.
