Announcement date
13/09/2023
Link to announcement
Public Health (Tobacco and Other Products) Bill 2023
Problem being addressed
This Impact Analysis (IA) examines measures to support the National Tobacco Strategy 2023-2030 (NTS) and National Preventive Health Strategy 2021-2030 (NPHS), which include the following targets in respect to tobacco control:
- achieve a national daily smoking prevalence for adults (≥18 years) of less than 10 per cent by 2025, and 5 per cent or less by 2030; and
- reduce the daily smoking rate among First Nations peoples (≥15 years) to 27 per cent or less by 2030.
The primary objectives of the preferred option in this IA are therefore to reduce daily smoking prevalence, both by discouraging uptake among people who do not smoke and by increasing cessation among people who do smoke. Secondary objectives have also been identified that have less direct impact on smoking prevalence but would support measures to meet the primary objectives. These include ensuring Australia’s tobacco control regulatory framework aligns with international best practice and international precedents, and the receipt of more sales and advertising information to increase transparency and inform policy development.
Proposal
The Department of Health and Aged Care examined three policy options to meet the Government's objectives under the NTS and NPHS:
- Option One: retaining the status quo (including by allowing existing regulations to sunset, or by remaking regulations to maintain the Government's existing regulatory approach);
- Option Two: consolidating Australia's tobacco control legislative frameworks to improve regulatory efficiency; and
- Option Three: implementing the measures in Option Two, and also introducing new measures to strengthen the Government's regulatory approach.
As outlined in the IA, the Department drew on a range of sources to determine that Option Three would best support the Government's objectives under the NTS and NPHS. Through consultation and analysis, it developed a package of twelve measures in the preferred option, including measures to:
- Standardise tobacco product and pack sizes (e.g. by requiring roll-your-own pouches to be 30 grams and cigarette packs to contain 20 cigarettes only and setting the length and diameter of a cigarette);
- Reduce the attractiveness and palatability of tobacco products by restricting flavourings and novelty design features (e.g. crush balls),
- Require dissuasive measures to be printed directly onto tobacco products (e.g. printing ‘causes stroke’ onto the cigarette);
- Prevent the tobacco industry from using brand or variant names to mislead consumers about the health effects of smoking,
- Require health promotion inserts (small cards containing information to encourage smoking cessation) to be inserted into tobacco product packaging; and
- Require mandatory disclosure of tobacco industry sales and advertising / promotion, and protecting tobacco control policy from commercial and other vested interests.
Through the IA, the Department demonstrates that the high social costs associated with tobacco use mean that only 73 people would need to permanently quit smoking each year to cover the regulatory burden associated with these measures.
Assessed Impact Analysis outcome
Exemplary
Assessment comments
The Department developed a strong case for Government intervention to further reduce smoking rates in the Australian community, drawing on international evidence, academic research, feedback from consultations, and its own modelling.
Regulatory burden
$21.77 million per year