The Australian Association of Convenience (AACS) has publicly released the most comprehensive survey report into Australian voter attitudes towards regulating nicotine vaping products.
The results from the RedBridge Group survey commissioned by AACS in February reveal a damning assessment of the Albanese Government’s policy failure to regulate vaping products effectively.
Key Findings:
- Voters who are under a great deal of financial stress are more than twice as likely to vape, compared to those who reported being under no stress at all (13 per cent versus 5 per cent).
- Over eight in 10 voters agree that vapes should be sold the same way as alcohol and tobacco.
- Only 2 per cent of voters believe governments are doing a ‘very good’ job in managing the regulation of vapes.
- Three-quarters of voters would consider voting for a political party that has a policy to regulate vape sales in the same way as alcohol and tobacco.
- More than half of all voters believe the government should change its policy and regulate vape sales in the same way as alcohol and tobacco, compared to just 25 per cent who support maintaining current laws.
With 74 per cent of voters agreeing that treating nicotine vapes as a medicine sends the wrong signal to the community, these results serve as a stark warning for the Albanese Government that their impending vaping legislation is deeply unpopular with voters and extremely out of touch with community expectations, AACS CEO Theo Foukkare said.
“As Australians battle against a cost-of-living crisis, Health Minister Mark Butler’s laws will cruelly hit the 13 per cent of adults – who are under the most financial stress with a tripling of costs when they are forced to pay $150 for a legal medical vape,”1 he said.
“The lack of regulation has created a youth vaping crisis, yet instead of strictly controlling the market in the same way as cigarettes, Labor has let an easily accessible black-market boom while sending the exact wrong message to kids – that these addictive products are somehow a medicine.
“It’s clear that the overwhelming majority of Australian voters don’t believe vapes are a medical product, and they want the market to be strictly controlled in the same way as alcohol and tobacco,” Mr Foukkare said.
“While comparable countries like New Zealand and the United States are reducing youth vaping rates through strict tobacco-like controls with mandatory restrictions on flavours, nicotine limits and packaging, Australia has been turned into the wild west of black-market activity with criminals selling unregulated vapes designed to target kids online and near schools.
“The stark reality is that as long as the Albanese Government continues its new vape ban, the 1.7 million adults who vape2 will continue to buy from the black market because they simply are either unable, or unwilling, to pay $150 for a medical vape prescribed by a doctor – that’s if they can even get a medical appointment, during this cost-of-living crisis.
1. https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/health/australians-to-pay-up-to-150-for-a-prescription-vape-under-new-crackdown/news-story/ebd21e67df0f0f3832eed8f0be6f0ff8
2. https://aacs.org.au/vaping-in-australia-by-state-among-total-18population/
“Over 8 per cent of the total Australian adult population are vaping, and they deserve to be able to buy a regulated product that meets government standards in the same way as they can for alcohol or tobacco, so they don’t have to play Russian roulette with unknown ingredients from something that is supplied illegally by criminals.“
The full RedBridge report can be viewed here: https://aacs.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/RedBridge-Report-Attitudes-towards-the-regulation-of-nicotine-vaping-products-feb-2024-v3.pdf
Theo Foukkare is available for interview on 0423 003 133
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