Tobacco use is the leading risk factor contributing to burden of disease in Australia (8.6% of total burden (AIHW 2021). Exposure to tobacco smoke (second-hand smoking) also causes numerous health conditions among adults and children, and smoking (first or second hand) during pregnancy can affect the health of both mother and baby (Department of Health and Aged Care 2023b, Department of Health and Aged Care 2023c).
The latest available data indicate that fewer people in Australia are smoking daily and more people have never smoked compared with 20 years ago (AIHW 2024). However, the number of people using e-cigarettes is rising, particularly among young people (AIHW 2024).
In recent decades, Australia has progressively implemented a comprehensive suite of tobacco control measures as well as policies to reduce e-cigarette use, including:
- increasing excise
- running social marketing campaigns
- introducing plain packaging
- issuing graphic health warnings
- prohibiting tobacco advertising and promotion
- providing support for people who smoke to quit
- banning the importation of disposable single use e-cigarettes
- stopping the personal importation of e-cigarettes
- banning the importation of non-therapeutic e-cigarettes (that is, e-cigarettes not intended to help with quitting or reducing the use of regular cigarettes)
- imposing requirements on therapeutic e-cigarette importers and manufacturers, including compliance with minimum product standards (Department of Health and Aged Care 2023a).
Further regulatory measures, public health campaigns and expansion of smoking cessation services are being introduced in 2024 (The Hon. Mark Butler MP 7 December 2023). New e-cigarette reforms are also likely to be introduced in 2024, including the introduction of pharmaceutical style packaging and quality and safety standards for therapeutic e-cigarettes. See Vaping hub | Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) for more information.
Reducing tobacco and nicotine use is a key component of the Australian Government’s 10-year National Preventive Health Strategy, which outlines the following targets:
- achieve a national daily smoking prevalence of less than 10% by 2025 and 5% or less for adults (aged 18 and over) by 2030
- reduce the daily smoking rate among First Nations people aged 15 and over to 27% or less by 2030 (Department of Health 2021).
The National Tobacco Strategy 2023–2030 complements the National Preventive Health Strategy, and aims to improve the health of Australians by reducing tobacco use (Department of Health and Aged Care 2023a). Key objectives include preventing the uptake of tobacco use, preventing and reducing nicotine addiction, and preventing the uptake of e-cigarettes by young people and those who have never smoked.
References
AIHW (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare) (2021) Australian Burden of Disease Study 2018: Interactive data on risk factor burden, AIHW website, accessed 19 June 2024.
AIHW (2024) National Drug Strategy Household Survey 2022–2023, AIHW website, accessed 19 June 2024.
Department of Health (2021) National Preventive Health Strategy 2021-2030, Department of Health and Aged Care website, accessed 4 August 2022.
Department of Health and Aged Care (2023a) National Tobacco Strategy 2023–2030, Department of Health and Aged Care website, accessed 6 June 2023.
Department of Health and Aged Care (2023b) Passive smoking, Department of Health and Aged Care website, accessed 21 June 2024.
Department of Health and Aged Care (2023c) Smoking and tobacco and pregnancy, Department of Health and Aged Care website, accessed 6 June 2023.
