Australian
federal
and state legislation on tobacco
Full chart summarising Commonwealth, state and territory laws on
tobacco, as at March 2008. From the Commonwealth Department of
Health and Aging.
See also our homepage
for other areas of legislation
- e.g. smokefree workplaces (below), and under TAKING ACTION: protecting
children, smokefree places, smokefree youth, smoking and fires.
Legislation on SMOKEFREE WORKPLACES:
See SmokeFree
Australia webpage with chart of state/territory laws and
relevant links.
Legislation on PROTECTING CHILDREN
FROM TOBACCO:
See latest
steps taken by governments to:
- put tobacco out of sights in shops
- prevent children buying or selling
it
- license its dealers
- ban or restrict tobacco vending
machines and
- make cars
carrying children smokefree.
Follow link to chart of Australian
states/territory laws on display.
NEWS:
4th
US states mandates reduced fire risk cigarettes
Canada
and four US states have now mandated lower ignition standard for
cigarettes. In New York state, this has led to fewer deaths from fires.
See
ABC (US) news
story 20/9/05
But
that hasn’t stopped British American Tobacco, one of the Big Two
tobacco companies in Australia, telling the NSW Parliament's tobacco
inquiry that such standards “don’t work in the real world.”
See
BAT
Australia submission to NSW Tobacco Inquiry
- p.17
Victoria
beefs up evidence laws after McCabe case
9/11/05: The Victorian Government is introducing new laws outlawing
intentional destruction of documents to prevent them being used as
evidence in
court. The move follows the Rolah McCabe case, where a terminal lung
cancer victim unsuccessfully sued tobacco giant BAT. ABC
News online 9/11/05
California
become third US state to legislate for lower fire risk cigarettes
9/10/05: Governor Schwarzenegger has signed legislation requiring
cigarettes sold in California to be "fire-safe" - i.e. to go
out when left unsmoked. See report
9/10/05
Note that Australia is still waiting for such legislation.
Internet
sales to minors show Tobacco Act needs tightening
1/5/05: A website operation selling cheap cigarettes shows the urgent
need to tighten Australia’s Tobacco Advertising Prohibition Act.
Melbourne-based Ancient Egypt Australia, operating legally under a
loophole in the TAP Act, has been selling cigarettes for just $4.40 a
packet – without requesting proof of age, say media reports.
See for example Sunday
Telegraph, Sydney, 1/5/05
Health
groups have called for the website to be shut down. They also want the
TAP Act reviewed, which the Federal Government had promised to do but
recently backed away from.
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