Retailers fear e-cigarette clampdown could leave businesses up in smoke

Emilia Terzon
ABC
New vaping laws coming into effect across Australia have created big problems for some e-cigarette retailers, with businesses moving their operations out of states they claim are too heavy-handed.
Key points:
Legislation passed in the NT will see e-cigarettes treated like tobacco products, with advertising banned
Retailers fear the changes could cause a drastic shake-up of their businesses
The AMA has backed the laws, saying e-cigarettes are a gateway product for young children
The Northern Territory this week became the last jurisdiction in Australia to regulate the use and sale of e-cigarettes.
Commonly known as vapes, the electronic machines produce thick and sometimes flavoured vapour, essentially mimicking tobacco smoke.
Steve Whalan, who runs a vaping shop in the Territory’s capital city Darwin, said he has helped many customers give up smoking tobacco.
“This is a lifesaving technology,” he said.
E-cigarettes now treated like tobacco
Mr Whalan’s customers include Louise Middleton, who until recently had smoked almost a packet of cigarettes a day for 20 years.
“The only time I stopped smoking was when I was pregnant with my little girl,” Ms Middleton said.
The turning point was a breast cancer diagnosis in mid-2018.
Ms Middleton has since switched to vaping and, apart from a three-cigarette lapse on Australia Day, she has abstained from smoking ever since.
The sale of e-cigarettes containing nicotine is illegal in Australia, so Ms Middleton buys that separately online and adds it to her vape to further cut her cravings.
“It’s been tough but going onto the vape, the stuff tastes good, and it means I haven’t had a cigarette,” Ms Middleton said.
Yet the Territory’s new laws will soon treat e-cigarettes exactly the same way it treats tobacco products.
“I don’t feel like I’m a tobacco smoker now,” Ms Middleton said.
“If they’re just going to treat it the same as tobacco, it makes me think what was the point [of giving up]?”
Retailers anticipate drastic changes
For Mr Whalan, the laws will mean a drastic overhaul of his retail operation.
His store currently displays a vast array of different products on long shelves, but under the laws — as with tobacco products and cigarettes — he will have to cover them up and restrict his advertising.
“We’re going to have to set up computer screens on the bar, and the customer will come in and look on the screens,” Mr Whalan said.
“People are angry that they’ve tried to get away from tobacco — and succeeded — only to be told by the Government that this is tobacco.”
New laws creating complications
The Territory’s laws follow amendments by the South Australian Government last year which mean e-cigarettes will be treated like tobacco products there.
South Australia does not allow tobacco to be sold online and so this will also apply to the sale of e-cigarettes across the state.
Craig Jackman owns three vaping shops in South Australia, however the vast majority of his business is online sales right across the country and into Asia.
He said the laws were forcing him to relocate his online business to Victoria, where he believes regulations are less heavy-handed.
“I’m not happy to move to Victoria. I’m just doing it out of necessity,” Mr Jackman said.
“There’s four other businesses in South Australia that I know of that are doing the same.
“The amount of business we’re going to generate in Victoria is beyond tens of millions. The South Australian Government has just waved goodbye to that.
“We’ve always agreed that we do want the industry regulated and we’re happy to work with the Government [but] we want that done fairly and equitably for everybody.”
No advertising for e-cigarettes
In a statement, the Northern Territory Government confirmed its new laws would also prohibit the online advertising of e-cigarettes.
“Online advertising of tobacco products is not permitted under current legislation for NT-based retailers and this will be the same for e-cigarette products,” the statement said.
“However, the retailer could have a website that advises people that they sell electronic cigarettes, but they could not display a photo or list the brand names of the products.”
The shelves of the vape store
PHOTO: New NT laws mean vaping retailers will have to change how their products are displayed. (ABC News: Dane Hirst)
Mr Whalan currently sells to customers in remote communities across the Top End and he said these stipulations would kill his online business.
“What our remote customers will do is leave our customers online from shopping in the Northern Territory and they will go to another shop elsewhere,” he said.
“So the money will leave the Northern Territory and go somewhere else.”
Balance of health and business
Health Minister Natasha Fyles said the NT Government would not consider compensating e-cigarette retailers put out by the new laws.
“The intent of this legislation is to regulate and not prohibit electronic cigarettes — we are introducing a sensible and achievable level of regulation that will protect children and provides a precautionary approach,” she said.
The Australian Medical Association agreed and has welcomed the Territory’s law changes.
AMA vice president Chris Zappala said there was not enough evidence yet that e-cigarettes were not harmful, and research showed they were a gateway product for young children and glamorised smoking to them.
‘I don’t think we want to re-glamorise smoking. We don’t want anything that gets us near the Marlborough man and that tough, cool image of smoking that makes that image socially acceptable,” Dr Zappala said.
However, Dr Zappala said a trial study published this week in the New England Journal of Medicine showed there was mounting evidence about the benefits of e-cigarettes.
“The trial is the first one that’s showed a possible benefit from e-cigarette use as a quitting aid for established smokers as opposed to nicotine replacement therapy,” he said.
“But I think until everybody has had time to digest that and that result has been replicated, we have to recognise the harm.”
A recent study of electronic cigarettes found that more than half of the e-cigarettes sold as ‘nicotine-free’ in Australia actually do contain nicotine.
The researchers also found an acutely toxic chemical used in insecticide was present in all the products they tested.