A proposed ban on the sale of cigarettes to anyone
born after the year 2000 risks turning Tasmania into a "nanny state”. Tasmanian
Independent Upper House MP Ivan Dean has proposed a bill that would ban the
sale of tobacco products to anyone born after 2000. If enacted, the proposed laws
would prohibit licensed retailers from permitting the "sale, loan, gift or
supply" of tobacco products to anyone born after January 1, of that year. Legislative
councilors received briefings on the proposal from retailers and Imperial
Tobacco at the Tasmanian Parliament on Tuesday.
Tasmanian MPs also received a briefing from a
representative of Imperial Tobacco, a global conglomerate whose tobacco brands
and products are sold in more than 160 countries. Imperial Tobacco's Australian
head of corporate and legal affairs, Andrew Gregson, said Ivan Dean's bill was
unenforceable, and claimed it would result in young people buying tobacco
online or on the black market. He also predicted that Tasmanian businesses and
Tasmanian jobs that will suffer as a result of the ban, and people will still
be able to obtain tobacco
During the briefing, Mr. Dean denied those claims and
insisted his proposal was about hastening the decline in the smoking rate. The
Cancer Council of Tasmania has thrown its support behind Mr. Dean's proposal,
urging his Upper House colleagues to support the bill. CEO Penny Egan said most
of 600 Tasmanians surveyed by telephone over recent months also supported it.
By:
Edwina Owusu-Adjapong.
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