The last cigarette and tobacco vending machine has been removed from Tasmania, in a move that's been hailed by tobacco control advocates.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
In February this year, the removal of a device from the Huon Valley Council area made the state cigarette machine-free.
However, that doesn't necessarily mean they're gone forever. Quit Tasmania director Abby Smith said there was now a prime opportunity for the state government to amend Tasmania's tobacco control laws and "get rid of vending machines for good".
In other news:
- Fingal man Peter Gary Farrow, 29, who harboured a murder suspect avoids jail
- ABC journalist Sabra Lane will soon call Tasmania home
- ACEM calls on Tasmanian government to address Launceston General Hospital access block
- Launceston Chamber of Commerce want an independent organisation established to look after the Tamar Estuary
- 'Suggestions' of netball complaint about James Geoffrey Griffin
"Research suggests that retail access and availability of tobacco products is associated with youth and adult smoking, and a greater likelihood of relapse among people who quit," Ms Smith said.
"Given Tasmania has the second highest smoking rate in the country, with about 70,500 Tasmanians who smoke, reducing the supply of tobacco to Tasmanians will help drive down our smoking rates even further."
Premises licensed to sell alcohol under the state's Liquor Licencsing Act are permitted to have a single cigarette and tobacco vending machine, as long as it's located in a restricted area.
"Tasmania has some of the strongest tobacco control legislation in Australia and high rates of retailer compliance compared to other states," Ms Smith said.
"We already know that some Tasmanian retailers are making a business decision to stop selling tobacco altogether. It's a declining product and many make little to no profit from it, especially when you factor in the high annual tobacco licence fee."
Independent Windermere MLC Ivan Dean has tabled a private members bill in the Legislative Council to increase the smoking age in Tasmania to 21 - dubbed the T21 bill. He said he was pleasantly surprised to learn that the state was now free of cigarette machines.
"There's no place now for vending machines for tobacco or cigarette products and they should be banned," he said. "Now's the opportunity for us to move forward and ban these machines."
Mr Dean hopes his T21 bill, endorsed by billionaire mining magnate, entrepreneur and philanthropist Andrew 'Twiggy' Forrest, will be brought on for debate in the first parliamentary sitting days of 2021.
"It's a no-brainer when you look at the current health position that we've got ourselves in and the number of people in hospital for smoking-related diseases and illnesses is just amazing," Mr Dean said.
Mental Health and Wellbeing Minister Jeremy Rockliff said the removal of the last cigarette machine in the state was "an acknowledgement that they are no longer a suitable source to purchase these products".
"We know that smoking kills more than 500 Tasmanians a year and that is why the Tasmanian government has made addressing smoking one of our four key priorities under the Healthy Tasmania Five Year Strategic Plan," he said.
A government spokesperson said while a ban on the machines wouldn't be ruled out, it wasn't something that needed to be considered in the immediate future.
What do you think? Send us a letter to the editor: