Ross Fitzgerald

Why has the ALP deserted its key constituency?

In the last decade, Australia has witnessed slow wage growth, higher inflation, mortgage stress, prohibitive energy prices and a rising cost of living. Yet the Albanese government has done little to alleviate economic and social pressures that especially bite in Labor electorates.

The revision of the stage three tax cuts may have somewhat improved Labor’s standing following the rejection of the Voice referendum in 2023. But the Albanese government remains under huge pressure, and not just about illegal refugees.

More recently, the ALP  deserted its key  constituency in regard to public policy about vaping. This meant anyone who wants to switch from smoking cigarettes to much safer nicotine-vaping has to find a doctor willing to write a script and then find a chemist willing to fill it.

 This is often difficult. Yet smokers can easily find a convenience store, supermarket or service station where deadly cigarettes can be purchased in seconds. How absurd!

Yet federal Health Minister Mark Butler has ramped up even further the restrictions on vaping. Additional restrictions were added by regulation just before Christmas, more restrictions were added by legislation in January and additional restrictions are proposed to be legislated in early March. 

Still, the overwhelming majority of Australians believe vaping should be regulated like cigarettes and alcohol and made available from licensed, age-restricted outlets. 

Authorities would then know how many outlets there are, where they are, and who owns each one.

Age-restricted means that sales of vapes are recorded on CCTV and there is proof of the outlet checking the age of customers. 

In September, polling company Redbridge asked 1,500 Australians if regulated nicotine vaping products should be available for sale only to persons aged 18 and over, through licensed retail outlets.

Nearly 90 per cent strongly or very strongly agreed.  Responses were similar for people who had voted for different political parties in the 2022 federal election, lived in different states or territories, or lived in and outside cities.

As is the case in comparable countries, low-income and disadvantaged populations smoke more cigarettes per day, have more difficulty quitting, and are more likely to die prematurely from a smoking- related condition. It is also these groups that smoke more cigarettes per day, and that have more trouble quitting smoking than smokers from more affluent and better-educated areas  of Australia.

Smoking cigarettes is not only the most common cause of lung cancer in men and women, but low-income areas in Australia such as the tip of the Cape York Peninsular, the Top End of the Northern Territory and the northeast of Tasmania also have significantly higher rates of lung cancer. 

In the last decade, smoking patterns of low-income groups have exacerbated the severe economic problems many people are facing. This is because, along with New Zealand, Australia has the highest cigarette taxes (and therefore cigarette prices) in the world. 

Addiction specialist Dr Alex Wodak points out that, initially vigorous opposition to new drug harm reduction interventions is extremely common. He argues that “most new drug harm reduction interventions almost always eventually get adopted and implemented. Often authorities are astonished by the magnitude of the benefits and the almost complete lack of adverse effects.” Some examples are methadone treatment, needle syringe programs and clean, medically supervised injecting centers.

In randomised controlled trials, vaping has been shown be about 70% more effective as a quitting aid than nicotine replacement therapy. Vaping is an extremely effective harm reduction intervention. As well as being by far the most effective way for adults to quit smoking, in Australia vaping is 80-90 per cent cheaper than smoking. 

Why has the ALP, historically representing low-income groups and the disadvantaged, committed itself to a policy that directly disadvantages this core constituency? 

Is Labor not aware that, at the same time, such a regressive policy has the potential to damage its own political and parliamentary fortunes?

Ross Fitzgerald is Emeritus Professor of History and Politics at Griffith University

The Daily Telegraph, February 27, 2024