Angus Taylor this week has argued the "horse has already bolted" on higher smoking rates. (ABC News: Ian Cutmore)
Better not ask singer Charli XCX, who was photographed at the height of her Brat summer, receiving a birthday bouquet stuffed with cigarettes.
At the time Vogue noted the tongue-in-cheek gift was the kind of thing a Swiftie might "baulk" at.
No shade to Taylor Swift, but the subtext was clear: smoking was, regrettably, cool.
Singer Charli XCX was photographed at the height of her Brat summer receiving a birthday bouquet stuffed with cigarettes. (Reuters: Daniel Cole)
Fortunately for Australian health advocates, that aesthetic does not appear to have penetrated the psyche of the average teenager.
Smoking among 14 to 17-year-olds has fallen to levels almost too low to reliably track, while local research found teens generally described young smokers as "losers" or "trying too hard to be cool".
The Liberals and One Nation have a simple solution to end Australia's tobacco black market. But Labor says there's no easy fix.
But there remain concerns. A poll released this year found 26 per cent of 12 to 17-year-olds had tried some form of nicotine, while another 15 per cent were considering it.
All of these factors matter if Australia is seriously considering a dramatic change in how nicotine is regulated.
More than half the cigarettes sold in the country are now purchased illegally, while the estimated nicotine black market share jumps to 80 per cent when vapes and pouches are included.
In addition to money for more law enforcement and a public education campaign, the Coalition wants to legalise and tax vapes and nicotine pouches. (AAP: Pip Farquharson )
The solution proposed this week by the Coalition is to slash the tobacco excise by 80 per cent, just edging out One Nation's 75 per cent in what Labor has dubbed a "race to the bottom" with organised crime.
But the policy unveiled by Opposition Leader Angus Taylor this week went further than the excise.
In addition to money for more law enforcement and a public education campaign, the Coalition wants to legalise and tax vapes and nicotine pouches.
Source: Read the original article on www.abc.net.au
Written by https://futureknowledge.in/
