Therapeutic Goods and Other Legislation Amendment (Vaping Reforms)

“The Bill takes strong action to ban the importation, domestic manufacture, supply, commercial possession and advertisement of vaping goods, except in limited circumstances. It is a necessary step to address the growing risk posed by vaping in Australia, particularly to youth and young adults, while preserving legitimate patient access to therapeutic vaping goods for smoking cessation and the management of nicotine dependence, where clinically appropriate.”

Australian Labor Party • Senator • 16 May 2024

“I ask this parliament: please, do not miss this opportunity to allow this legislation to pass quickly so we know that there is less chance of kids becoming vapers over the next 12 months. This is something we can do really fast.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 27 Mar 2024

“I really thoroughly commend this bill to the House because I think that it is very important, that this is our last chance and that we should do it persistently and consistently.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 27 Mar 2024

“This bill will ban the importation, manufacture, supply and commercial possession of disposable, single-use vapes and non-therapeutic vapes, while preserving the legitimate patient's access to therapeutic vapes through pharmacy settings for smoking cessation and management of nicotine dependency were clinically appropriate. This is the right bill and the right call for this time. We can do something to help that next generation. We want to see the figures reduced from one in six to zero. It is something we can do.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 27 Mar 2024

“If you care about the next generation and about the health and wellbeing of Australians, I'm urging you to vote for this legislation. Vote for this legislation because it is good for public health, it is good for young Australians and, most importantly, it's good for the entire community. I've listened to local principals, teachers and parents in my home state of Tasmania speaking openly and often, contacting me and asking that we display leadership on this. They are so concerned about the damage that is being done to young Australians. In fact, it's not just high school students that are vaping; it's happening in our primary schools. So I urge those opposite to put the health of young Australians and Australians more generally at the forefront of the decision that they make, and I urge them to support this legislation.”

Australian Labor Party • Senator • 25 June 2024

“Our second tranche of reforms, which is the substance of this bill, will aim to ban the sale and marketing of vapes in the streets and suburbs of our communities. This approach has been endorsed by a range of organisations, including peak medical groups such as the AMA and the RACGP, as well as others. The state and territory health ministers have also endorsed this legislation, so we would urge support from everyone in this House.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 15 May 2024

“We are working very hard to clean that up—and we have a lot of work to do—with the work already done and, indeed, with these very important reforms before us. I commend the bill to the Senate.”

Australian Labor Party • Senator • 25 June 2024

“I rise in support of the Therapeutic Goods and Other Legislation Amendment (Vaping Reforms) Bill 2024 before the House, which is to amend the Commonwealth Therapeutic Goods Act 1989 to prohibit the importation, domestic manufacture, supply, commercial possession and advertisement of non-therapeutic and disposable vaping goods. I'm happy to do so as I'm horrified by the blatant marketing of vaping to our youth, especially in light of the advice from Australian Medical Association and other reputable health groups regarding the significant risk to the population's health.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 15 May 2024

“I wholeheartedly support this bill, because fundamentally it is about protecting young Australians from the dangers of nicotine and the harms of addiction. Those harms are real, they are present and they are hurting young people in Australia and their families.”

Australian Labor Party • Senator • 25 June 2024

“I am pleased to speak in support of the Therapeutic Goods and Other Legislation Amendment (Vaping Reforms) Bill 2024 as Assistant Health Minister and also on behalf of the people of my community on the Central Coast of New South Wales. The bill goes to the heart of protecting Australians—particularly young people—from the harms associated with vaping and nicotine.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 26 Mar 2024

“I will finish by saying this: by 2025, it's estimated that 99 per cent of seabirds will have ingested plastics. In 2050, plastics in the ocean are expected to outweigh fish. When these items enter our environment, they are environmentally catastrophic. I commend the bill to the House.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 27 Mar 2024

“The legislation that is now before the Senate will ban the under-the-counter sale and supply of vapes. It has only ever been Labor governments that have taken the strong, principled action needed to implement tobacco control, and it's only our government that will deliver the next step in vaping.”

Australian Labor Party • Senator • 25 June 2024

“I rise to speak in support of the Therapeutic Goods and Other Legislation Amendment (Vaping Reforms) Bill 2024. The Albanese Labor government is taking world-leading action to tackle vaping. Our reforms will protect Australians from the harms of vaping and nicotine dependence while ensuring that those with a legitimate need to access therapeutic vapes can continue to do so.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 27 Mar 2024

“This bill bans the importation, manufacture, supply and commercial possession of disposable, single-use and non-therapeutic vapes, while preserving legitimate patient access for therapeutic vapes through pharmacy settings for smoking cessation and the management of nicotine dependence where clinically appropriate. It is a public health menace, a scourge, and the rapid rise amongst young people is alarming.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 27 Mar 2024

“This legislation to curb vaping is our opportunity to do just that, to put the genie back in the bottle. It is the new public health challenge, an entirely preventable one, and we should learn from the past. I commend the bill to the House.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 27 Mar 2024

“In addition to regulatory measures, our approach to addressing vaping includes a range of complementary actions, including public health information campaigns and 'quit smoking' services. By adopting a multitargeted strategy we can effectively reduce the prevalence of vaping and protect the health and wellbeing of all Australians, especially our young ones—the leaders of the future. I commend this bill to the House.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 27 Mar 2024

“I congratulate my friend and colleague the Minister for Health and Aged Care for bringing forward this important legislation. I think that, if we do this, it will make a big impact in our local schools. That's why I urge all members to listen to parents and teachers, to what they're saying here, and to back parents, back teachers and back this bill.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 27 Mar 2024

“Whilst we won't stand in the way of this legislation passing the chamber, the coalition condemns the government for doing a dirty deal with the Greens, a deal that shows a weak government in chaos, a government desperate to get their legislation through such that they're prepared to drop a policy on our frontline primary care workers, professionals and pharmacists without notice or consultation. I move the second reading amendment standing in my name:”

Liberal Party • Senator • 25 June 2024

“The bill makes two important changes which the coalition supports. Firstly, it doesn't allow the sale of predatory and dangerous single-use disposable vaping products which are targeted to children and contain nicotine. Secondly, it creates one single framework under the TGA for the regulation of vaping products, regardless of the nicotine content. We have been clear from the get-go that our priority is to protect Australian children from the harms of vaping, and in line with that priority we do not stand in the way of those measures.”

Liberal Party • Senator • 25 June 2024

“I welcome the bill. I can't say that I support the trajectory the government's taken, but I respect their position wholeheartedly. I suspect that at some juncture we'll all be back here again, and I might be standing here saying, 'You were wrong.' I just hope we will all say, 'We got it wrong and we're going to need to change this and get it right, because what we've done in the past hasn't worked.' I commend the bill to the House.”

National Party • MP • 27 Mar 2024

“The coalition will not stand in the way of this legislation passing through the House today. However, we will be moving an amendment to make it clear that we expect the government to address the clear failures of the current prescription-only model.”

Liberal Party • MP • 26 Mar 2024

“It is with these amendments that the Greens will support the legislation's passage through the Senate.”

Australian Greens • Senator • 25 June 2024

“This reform that we're backing in that will become law because of good faith negotiations between the government and the Greens is a reform that has the best chance that we can see to get that balance right, to do everything we can to stop kids having access to vapes, to do what we can to have a regulated, legal supply where people know what's in the product that they're consuming, to try and put a lid on and reverse the scale of addiction to vapes over the next few years, and to try and get that public health, public interest lens right so that we're listening to the health professionals and also learning from the experience of other efforts to prohibit drugs.”

Australian Greens • Senator • 25 June 2024

“I would just say to everyone that this is a good compromise that has been reached here tonight. Both sides have got some valid points. There is going to be a lot of work to do to crack down on the black market. Now the genie is out of the bottle and single-use vapes are popular, it's going to be a lot of hard work to stop them coming in at the border. Organised crime have managed to sell other illicit drugs now for decades and make a lot of money out of them. They're making a lot of money out of vapes already, and there's a big road ahead of us here to actually eliminate them from society and from our waste stream. I think we should give this a go. I'm proud of the amendments that the Greens have been able to negotiate with the government on this, and we will be supporting this bill.”

Australian Greens • Senator • 25 June 2024

“This legislation, the Therapeutic Goods and Other Legislation Amendment (Vaping Reforms) Bill 2024, is overdue. It's important. It's going to be tough to enforce, but I congratulate the Minister for Health and Aged Care on having the courage to take on an industry which is a scourge to this country. Vaping is a public health emergency. We are looking at a tsunami, a generation of children hooked on nicotine. This legislation should be passed, and the federal, state and territory governments should work together to support its implementation. In the face of an unparalleled, unprecedented public health crisis affecting the young people of Australia, we need to act effectively, decisively and with integrity. I commend the legislation to the House.”

Independent • MP • 27 Mar 2024

“That's a pointed reminder, I would suggest, that it will require the best efforts and the complete cooperation of both federal and state law enforcement agencies to ensure that the black market in vapes is minimised, if not eliminated. It will be incumbent on all of us to ensure that this legislation does not have an unintended consequence and create an unregulated black market in which it's even more difficult to manage risks to our children. That said, I will support this bill.”

Independent • MP • 27 Mar 2024

“That brings me to this bill. I'm pleased that the additional measures in this legislation include creating structures to enable better enforcement through state and federal governments working together and also higher penalties relating to importation, domestic manufacture, supply, commercial possession and advertisements. This is great for WA. Cutting off imports at the border is essential to halting the supply of vapes reaching Australia. Allowing the seizure and forfeiture of vaping products that have been commercially supplied or manufactured empowers state and territory officials to carry out enforcement powers under the new reforms.”

Independent • MP • 15 May 2024

“This bill bans the importation, domestic manufacture, supply, commercial possession and advertising of vapes. It's part of the second phase of the vaping regulation. I strongly support it. Following this bill passing, the provisions will regulate vapes, ban advertising and introduce new offences and civil penalty provisions in relation to importation, domestic manufacture, supply, commercial possession and advertising of vapes. It bans the commercial possession of vapes, and all of this better regulates the vaping industry and will help deter the importation and commercial supply of vaping products.”

Independent • MP • 27 Mar 2024

“To come back to the reason why I support this bill, the availability of vapes is of enormous concern to my community. The approach has been low regulation—you can't sell nicotine vapes in our stores; you have to get a prescription for that. But these nicotine vapes are absolutely everywhere. In my electorate of Wentworth I was appalled, as was the principal, to find that a tobacco shop had opened just two doors down from the entrance to my old school, with tobacco vapes out the front. In that particular situation, I know that the store was approached by the health department. They looked at it and found that they were selling nicotine vapes. My community is very concerned that that shop and other shops like it couldn't be closed down and that very little action could be taken. I think my community is looking for much stronger action on vapes. Vaping is being directed at our children, and it is unacceptable. We see the nicotine vapes, in bright colours and in flavours like bubblegum and banana milkshake, stacked on shelves alongside lollies and chocolates. That's exactly what I saw in my community. Parents were outraged.”

Independent • MP • 15 May 2024