What are the new rules for vapes?

My name is Lily Maddon and I'm a proud Arunda Bungelung Calcottin woman from Gadigl Country. The Daily oz acknowledges that this podcast is recorded on the lands of the Gadighl people and pays respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Straight Island and nations. We pay our respects to the first peoples of these countries, both past and present.

Good morning and welcome to the Daily os. It is somehow Friday, the first of December.

I'm Zara, I'm Sam.

Before we jump into what today's podcast is about, a very big thank you to everyone who tagged us in their Spotify wrapped It's our favorite time of the year, all those minutes that you have spent listening to us. But onto today's podcast. Earlier in the year, Health Minister Mark Butler announced sweeping measures to crack down on the use of apes here in Australia.

As the federal government declares war on e cigarettes.

In a world first that could see most e cigarettes. Band Mark Butler says, a cigarettes are creating a new generation of nicotine addicts and it must end that was back in May. But the reason that we're talking about it again. Today is because the government has released its timeline for rolling out these anti vaping measures and we're going to unpack everything you need to know about how vaping in Australia is changing in today's deep dive. But first Sam what's making headlines.

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Parents and alumni of a private boys' school in Sydney have launched a petition in protest of the school's decision to go co ed. Newington College announced it would begin accepting enrollments from girls to begin its journey to being completely co ed by twenty thirty three. However, some school community members say they're pushing against the change because they want to preserve the school's one hundred and sixty year old legacy.

A parliamentary inquiry into employment services has made seventy five recommendations for the government to improve the sector and make it easier for unemployed Australians to find work. The Workforce Australia Employment Services Committee hands down its report on Thursday, which found national unemployment services are not fit for purpose

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So this year the federal government announced a major crackdown on vapes, and in particular they really focused in on vaping amongst young people now. In a speech at the National Press Club back in May, Health Minister Mark Butler flags that there were several restrictions in the pipeline that would target the so called black market in illegal vaping.

No more bubblegum flavors, no more pink unicorns, no more vapes deliberately disguised as highlighter pins for kids to be able to hide them in their pencil cases.

I feel like that was the architecture of the house of vaping measures. You know, we understood what was going to happen, what it would look like, but we didn't really get to fill the house with anything. We didn't know when it was going to happen, how it was actually going to play out in practice.

We knew it was a focus area, we didn't know the specific.

So the details came this week.

Right, Yeah, And basically what you need to know is the federal government announced a vaping crackdown that's going to start on the first of January twenty twenty four, so in a couple of weeks, and there's going to be this initial ban on the import of disposable vapes. Once that's up and running, there's going to be further restrictions that are going to roll out in the months after that.

I think one of the things that comes up every time we talk about vaping is a lack of clarity around what is actually already illegal, what is legal, and what is changing. Focus on the first part, what is the state of play currently when it comes to vapes.

So right now it's illegal to purchase a nicotine vape in Australia unless you have a medical prescription and you can't sell them to somebody who doesn't have a prescription.

Okay, but that hasn't stopped a whole cohort of people from vaping. What do we understand around its popularity?

So the latest start that we've got, which is from the first quarter of this year, shows that around one in seven fourteen to seventeen year olds and one in five eighteen to twenty four year olds are currently vaping.

I think we both know though that those numbers are severely perhaps underrepresenting what it looks like in reality. I mean, we've asked our audience a number of times it's a key area of focus and i'd say the reality is that it's frequently yeah okay. So in light of that, what are these changes now moving forward?

Well, the government is really trying to work out how to regulate better and then enforce those regulations around their sale of e cigarettes, including new controls on how they're getting into the country, so the importation, what they're made of, the contents, and how they're packaged and so all of these measures are going to start with the importation of single use or disposable vapes, so you know them at some convenience stores they come in individual packaging, and this

Okay, so hypothetically, yeah, if I was somebody that was to be legally obtaining a vape from next year, yeah, how would one go about that?

So you're going to need to go to your GP, and you're presumably going to have a discussion with your GP around your nicotine addiction and how to manage that. They'll then give you a prescription that you can then feel out a pharmacy. Now, according to those comments from Mark Butler earlier this year, only one in twenty doctors are currently authorized to prescribe vapes, but the government wants to remove those restrictions so that every doctor can prescribe them to people who need it.

One of the problems with regulation has always been the lack of teeth or the lack of enforcement. Sure, and I mean we've already seen this. There's already been a crackdown of sorts on vapes and yet they're everywhere. How is the government intending to actually enforce these rules in a different way to perhaps what they've already been doing that arguably isn't working.

So the Health Minister has acknowledged that banning vape imports would be complex and it's going to require monitoring the Australian border. And he did concede that there would be some vapes that get into the country, but he said, and this is his quote, they will no longer be easy for school children, our most vulnerable and impressionable members

I think we've reported about the seizure of vapes, yeah, ten times in the last couple of months.

Yeah, so they're definitely on the case now, and I guess they're treating it the same way they would treat the importation of other illicit products and substances from getting into Australia.

There seems to be a big focus on the importation, so on this idea of bringing them into the country. What's clear is that there are already a lot of vapes in Australia, both being sold and being used. What's the government's plan to actually tackle the vapes already here?

I think that's actually a really helpful way to frame it. So we've talked about the importing stuff. Now let's talk about what's actually happening domestic with sales. So there's new measures from the government proposed designed to stop the manufacture and advertising of vapes in Australia as well as the commercial possession of these disposable non medical vapes. And who they're targeting with these new regulations would be the retailers,

But it does strike me that the marketing of these products are a huge part of the issue.

Well, it's roll research and like who they're targeting. Bright colors, bubblegum, all those kind of flavors make it a very attractive product to young people.

I think one of the questions that to mind is whether making it more difficult to access vapes could push a whole cohort who would have never been cigarette smokers but are now addicted to nicotine into being cigarette smokers.

Yeah, it's a really interesting kind of subdiscussion here, and I think the way that the Minister has approached it is expanding those powers given to gps and making it more accessible for people to talk to a GP about a nicotine addiction. And I have that as an effort to continue to steer people away from cigarettes whilst managing their vape u sea.

I think the government absolutely has its work cut out for them, Definitely, anything, I think we're coming a bit late to this discussion, and when there is already something that has kind of penetrated an entire market. I eat young people think it'll be really hard, so it'll be interesting to see how they go with that. What has the general kind of industry response being to the announcements this week?

So we heard from the Public Health Association, they're the country's peak body for public health, and they welcome to the announcement of the regulations coming next year. The body said nicotine addiction, respiratory illness, acute toxicity, and mental ill health are just the beginning of the harms it's seeing vaping cause. The body called proposed actions good news for

Before we wrap up today's episode, we do have a favor to ask you. We are working on a top secret project for next year, and in order to make that as incredible as we can, we are on the lookout for people with stories to tell about vaping. So if you've had a bad experience with vapes health wise, I want to talk to us about it. We'd love to hear from you. Alternatively, if you've had a good vape experience, we also want to hear from you. You