Health Minister Nicola Roxon

Transcript of Interview, ABC-TV Lateline      13 September 2010

LEIGH SALES, PRESENTER: On Friday night Lateline revealed three multinational tobacco companies have spent millions of dollars advertising against Government plans to introduce plain cigarette packaging.

They've done it covertly through a front group called the Alliance of Australian Retailers.

Today, several health groups called for Government action to prevent that situation from occurring again.

To discuss that matter and other issues in the Health portfolio, I'm joined from Canberra tonight by the federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon.

Thank you for your time.

NICOLA ROXON, HEALTH MINISTER: That's a pleasure.

LEIGH SALES: What is the Government's response to that Lateline story from Friday?

NICOLA ROXON: Well what I think it shows very clearly is that big tobacco companies around the world are determined to stop our new plain packaging measures.

The reason the Government wants to introduce them is that we know tobacco is a killer, we know that 15,000 Australians die every year, we know that plain packaging is one way to make cigarettes even less attractive, particularly to young or new smokers.

And I'm sure that's why the big tobacco companies want to fight it tooth and nail.

Australia will be the first country around the world to take this step. And I'm very concerned that large amounts of money are going to be spent to try to turn this policy around when it's clearly going to benefit the health of Australians and is something that our Government should be able to do and we are very determined to continue with.

LEIGH SALES: VicHealth and the Public Health Association of Australia are calling on the Government to legislate for a complete ban on tobacco advertising, including through front groups. Is that something the Federal Government will consider?

NICOLA ROXON: Well of course there is a ban on tobacco advertising in terms of selling the product. I think what these groups have been raising is, is this really a way of keeping cigarettes at the front of people's minds, even although it's a campaign about and attacking our policy.

So I'm really determined to make sure that the Government can take steps that will save lives, and one of the ways of doing that is to try to remove every last ability of a company to advertise their products and their colours and their logos in the packaging are part of doing that, and that's why we're determined to go ahead with this legislation.

I hope the Liberal Party will support us. Mr Abbott initially did, then he sort of drew back from that position. There have been suggestions that there were, you know, donations made. I don't know if that's right or not. But I hope that Mr Abbott and the Liberal Party will support these measures when they come before the Parliament, because it can save many, many thousands of lives.

LEIGH SALES: Have you had discussions with the independents and the Greens to garner their thoughts on this?

NICOLA ROXON: I have previously had discussions with the Greens. We dealt with them a lot on a range of preventative health measures and they've been very keen to support our preventative health agenda. I haven't yet had the opportunity to discuss this particular piece of Government policy with the other independents. Of course we'll be doing that.

Because this is the first time this step's been taken around the world, we've actually set aside some time for proper research, careful drafting of the legislation.

We know it's likely to be challenged by the tobacco companies in the High Court so we will make sure that we do all of our preparatory work properly, which will allow for plenty of consultation with the community and of course with the new Parliament.

LEIGH SALES: So, even allowing for that, what is the timetable then for the introduction? When would we expect to see those cigarettes plain packaging packets in shops?

NICOLA ROXON: Well the timetable is for it to be introduced for it to commence on 1st January, 2012, but for there to be a six-month window for old stock and other things to be sold so that it would be fully endorsed by 1st July, 2012.

So that means we've got a lot of the preparatory work to do this year, some final consultations and testing next year and being able to, hopefully, with the support of Parliament, pass the legislation to allow that change on 1st January, 2012.

LEIGH SALES: And how much of this preparatory work is about making the legislation water-tight, given this legal challenge that you're anticipating?

NICOLA ROXON: Well, it's about both making this legislation as appropriate and as water-tight as it can be, but it's also about the testing for when you say plain packaging, what does the package have to look like? What size should the warnings be? How would you identify different brands? They have to be able to be identified, for example, by the retailer. Should it be plain gold packaging? Should it be plain grey packaging?

All these sorts of things that get tested to make sure we choose the least attractive option so that we are able to have the impact to the best extent possible to reduce the appeal of smoking. So there's a fair bit testing and a fair bit of effort that goes into that side of it, the actual graphic design, as well as making sure our legislation is completely clear and we hope will withstand any sort of challenge.

LEIGH SALES: In terms of the Opposition and possible challenges, has the Government made a rod for its own back here on the cigarette packaging, because with the backdown on the mining tax haven't you sent a message to big wealthy industries like tobacco that if they mount a ferocious enough political campaign, that you will back down?

NICOLA ROXON: Well I think what we've seen is something relatively new in Australia , where you do see big industry players buying directly into advertising right in the middle of an election campaign. But I think we ...

LEIGH SALES: And is that appropriate?

NICOLA ROXON: Well, I think, you know, in a democracy it's legal.

I think people have to form their own views about whether it should sway their vote, whether it's appropriate or not. This isn't new for big tobacco. They've fought every limitation on advertising, on restricting sale, ever introduced in this country and around the rest of world, but that shouldn't make us afraid of taking a step which we know is right.

The evidence about tobacco is very clear. It's not like we're waiting for some final information to come in about whether this is a safe product or not. We know it kills people, we know there are thousands of chemicals that are inhaled every time you smoke a cigarette, we know it's worth taking this fight.

We'll be doing everything to make sure that we can succeed in introducing plain packaging, but we are not naive about how hard big tobacco will fight us on that front.