Page 2203 - Week 08 - Wednesday, 6 June 1990
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It should be remembered that cigarettes are not an unrestricted product. It is already illegal to sell cigarettes to minors, and it is therefore only appropriate that young people not be subject to the influence and pressures created by cigarette advertising. The Bill before the Assembly proposes a ban on the advertising of tobacco products in all places except the print media and at the point of sale. The Government has exempted print advertising from the proposed ban in recognition of the fact that such a ban would adversely and unfairly affect ACT publishers, such as the Canberra Times, in comparison with interstate publishers. (Quorum formed)
There are also some doubts about the Territory's constitutional power to enact such a ban. However, the Government also notes and welcomes the legislation recently passed by the Commonwealth Parliament which will eliminate print advertising of tobacco products throughout Australia from the end of this year.
As with direct advertising, the Government has decided to take action and ban sponsorship arrangements which involve the promotion of tobacco products, trademarks or trade names. Such sponsorship has been most noticeable in the past in relation to sporting, artistic and cultural activities. As I mentioned earlier, the association of smoking with social, sporting or sexual success encourages children and young people to take up smoking.
There are two points which must be strongly stressed, however. Firstly, no current recipient of tobacco sponsorship moneys will be disadvantaged by the legislation. The ACT health promotion fund, created through an increase in the tobacco licence fee, has as one of its aims the replacement of tobacco company sponsorship of sporting and other activities in the ACT. Replacement sponsorships will enable sporting teams and other groups to associate themselves with health promotion campaigns and healthy lifestyle messages instead of the messages associated with tobacco products. The ACT health promotion fund is large enough to comfortably replace all local existing tobacco sponsorship in the ACT and inject some further funding into these areas to directly support health promotion campaigns and programs.
Secondly, there will be provision made for exemptions. The Government recognises that there will be some exceptional circumstances in which a ban would unfairly affect sporting or other groups. The example which most readily comes to mind is the Canberra Raiders, where contractual obligations to the New South Wales Rugby League would make it difficult for the Raiders to continue to play in that competition if they were subject to a total ban. There may be a need to exempt a limited number of other national or international competitions held in the ACT.
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