Children exposed to growing e-cigarette black market

Vaping reforms pushed through by the Morrison government “exposed children” to a growing e-cigarette black market, Nationals leader David Littleproud has conceded.

Vaping reforms pushed through by the former Coalition government “exposed children” to a growing e-cigarette black market, Nationals leader and Queenslander David Littleproud has conceded.

It comes as the Nationals call for the government to regulate vapes like traditional cigarettes, in a move Mr Littleproud said would make policing the issue easier.

At a state government level Queensland is undertaking an inquiry into vaping in a bid to get to the bottom of what the insidious devices turning teens into addicts actually contain and what the risk of e-cigarette chemicals pose.

The inquiry will also find ways to curb the uptake of the habit.

The state government has launched an inquiry into vaping. Picture: iStock

The former Morrison government, through then Health Minister Greg Hunt, put in place reforms in late 2021 to crack down on nicotine vapes.

But Mr Littleproud, speaking on ABC Breakfast, conceded those changes had failed to shift the dial and rather increased the sale of vapes on the black market.

“We’ve got to move with the market, got to understand the risk to our children and look to re-shift, where the regulation is and use some common sense,” he said.

“And I think you can look at how we’ve regulated for cigarettes in the past, where the point of sale, where reputable retailers or chemists, with vapes in particular, could be the ones that dispense these to people over 18.

“And unless we use some common sense and make it easy for the regulators to police and mirror and simulate what’s happening with cigarettes, then we won’t get the impact we want on cracking down on these black markets, but also protecting children.”

Nationals leader David Littleproud says vapes are easily accessible to young people. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

The Nationals are proposing that any revenue generated through taxes on vapes would be directed towards regional healthcare.

Mr Littleproud also spoke of his 15-year-old son, saying the boy had tried to access vapes a “couple of years ago” and was able to easily access them.

“These things are on every street corner. And what we need to do is to be able to tighten them up to streamline the regulation with the ones we’ve got … and make sure that we make the policing easier,” he said.

“That’s the common sense solution.”

Health Minister Mark Butler has previously indicated he intends to “come down hard” on the vaping industry.

The Therapeutic Goods Administration has also been working on changes to laws around vaping, with an eye on tightening import rules.