Smoking and tobacco regulation

Price increases of tobacco are the most effective single measure to prevent and reduce tobacco use.

Higher prices discourage non-smokers from starting, encourage current smokers to quit, and discourage former smokers from starting again.   

Advocating for the Commonwealth Government to make an ongoing commitment to price increases on tobacco products is a Heart Foundation priority. 

Messages through mass media and public education campaigns are effective ways to communicate the hazards of tobacco and encourage people to make a quit attempt. 

We advocate strongly for investment in effective national and state media campaigns that will help educate all Australians about the dangers of tobacco smoke. Recent campaigns include:

• Make Smoking History (WA)

• Quit Stalling NSW and Tasmania. 

• Don’t make smokes your story (national campaign with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders as the primary focus group).

People are exposed to campaign messages that encourage them to stop smoking, to keep trying to quit, and good reasons why they should never start smoking.

Help with how to stop smoking is provided by many different supports. It is common for people to quit for a while and then going back to smoking.

Support is needed to encourage quitting and to help those who do stop to remain non-smokers for life.

We support health professionals in all settings who inform their patients about the cardiovascular disease risks associated with smoking and how stopping smoking has immediate and long-term health benefits.

Multiple resources are available that support people to quit smoking:

Quitline 13 78 48     

Websites: www.quitnow.gov.au & www.quit.org.au

Online tools: QuitCoach

Mobile apps: My QuitBuddy and Quit for You-Quit for Two.

Smoke-free environments have an impact on heart health by:

• reducing exposure to second-hand smoke

• reducing the number of cigarettes smoked and encouraging people to quit smoking

• de-normalising smoking

Exposure to second-hand smoke is associated with immediate and longer term risks for heart disease. Smoke-free environments protect non-smokers from the dangers of second-hand smoke. 

We support smoke-free legislation which is working to make all public places and popular outdoor venues, such as dining and drinking areas, completely smoke-free

Benefits of smoke-free environments

A consistent approach is needed across Australia to define and regulate smoke-free areas.

Health benefits of smoke-free environments

• Reduced cardiovascular disease, especially decreases in admissions to hospital of people having a heart attack
• During the first year in which smoke-free legislation is in effect, communities have experienced a 15% drop in Acute Myocardial Infarction (AMI) hospital admissions. This decline reaches 36% by the third year after implementation.*
• Younger and non-smoking populations experienced the greatest declines. The Institute of Medicine (U.S.) concluded that there is a causal relationship between indoor smoking bans and reduced AMI risk.
• Improved respiratory health, particularly decreases in asthma attacks and symptoms.

Economic benefits of smoke-free environments

• small positive effects on businesses including restaurants and bars
• increases in worker productivity
• reduced cleaning and maintenance costs
• reduced insurance costs 

Smoke-free housing

All Australians have a right to breathe clean air, especially in their own homes. Smoke infiltration is both a health hazard and a nuisance.

There is no safe level of exposure to secondhand smoke.

We support current efforts in Queensland that call for changes in strata housing processes to give residents better protection from smoke infiltration.  

Additional information on smoke-free environment laws and regulations across Australia (PDF)

 *From Economics of Tobacco and Tobacco Control 2016 (World Health Organization)

Point-of-sale tobacco advertising and product display is banned in Australia. Federal, state and territory laws recognise the well-established negative effects of tobacco marketing and promotion on smokers, recent quitters and youth. 

The introduction of plain packaging in Australia in 2012 removed another major avenue for the promotion of tobacco products.

Price boards

Tobacco price boards offer a significant opportunity to promote tobacco products and offer price discounts.

Price boards in tobacco retailers are one of the few forms of tobacco promotion remaining in New South Wales, the Northern Territory, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia.

A study of tobacco retailers in Melbourne found that price boards were being used strategically to promote particular brands and new products.

In Queensland and the Australian Capital Territory price boards are not permitted. Communication to consumers about prices should be restricted to information sheets provided to adult smokers on request at the point of sale.

Tobacco is the most harmful ingredient of a cigarette, in both factory made or roll-your-own. Additional features, such as filters and additives, used to make tobacco products more appealing are also harmful.

Growing evidence is emerging of how the tobacco industry manipulates cigarette design, packaging and labelling to recruit new smokers and retain current smokers. Read more on Australian cigarettes.

Cigarette filters

In Australia, approximately 90% of cigarettes have filters which act to dilute smoke with fresh air when a smoker takes a puff. This creates variety in taste strength and reduces harshness/ irritation, making the act of smoking more palatable.

To reduce the attractiveness of tobacco products, filter ventilation should no longer be permitted in Australia.

More information about cigarette filters.

Tobacco additives

Cigarette additives have a range of purposes such as: improving flavour and aroma, controlling burn rates, nicotine delivery and harshness and increasing shelf life.

More effective and consistent regulation is needed to ban sweet, fruits and menthol flavoured smoking products. This will help to reduce the attractiveness of tobacco products, particularly to young people.

In Canada the government has prohibited menthol in most tobacco products to reduce the appeal of smoking to Canadian youth.

More information on tobacco additives, including menthol.

Tobacco remains one of the most readily available consumer products, with few restrictions on who can sell it and where it can be purchased. Widespread availability is of concern because:

• there are more sellers of cigarettes in areas of social and financial disadvantage
• people who are trying to quit smoking are more likely to relapse if tobacco is easily available
• the visibility of tobacco sellers normalises smoking and undermines other tobacco control efforts