MP Ivan Dean shelves controversial bid to create 'smoke-free generation'

19 Aug 2016
ABC News
An Upper House MP has conceded his push for a smoke-free generation in Tasmania is hamstrung by a lack of political support.
Windermere MLC Ivan Dean wants to ban the sale of tobacco to anyone born after the year 2000.
A parliamentary committee conditionally backed his private member’s bill but the State Government did not support it.
Retailers slammed the idea as a “nanny state” move that would send shopkeepers to the wall.
Mr Dean said he would not move to progress the bill since it would not go through the Lower House.
“I can simply sit on the bill at this present time,” he said.
“I make it perfectly clear: I do not want to move forward with a bill that is not going to be supported in the other place.
“I need the numbers and I’m not prepared to take any risks with this bill.”
Mr Dean said he can not move forward until the next election.
“I am better sitting back at this stage and leaving the bill where it is until we believe it’s the right time to bring the debate back,” he said.
The State Government’s alternative was a proposal to raise the smoking age to at least 21 and possibly as high as 25.
But it abandoned that proposal in July.
Mr Dean has written to his parliamentary colleagues to say he will not amend his bill to include raising the smoking age.
“If the Government or the Opposition wish to raise the age at which tobacco should be sold, then they can draft their own bill,” he said.
“I will not be held accountable for their inattention or dilatory performance on tobacco control.”
In the letter, he said he had not given up on the smoke-free generation and owed it to his “myriad supporters” to continue the push.