Page 255 - Week 02 - Tuesday, 12 May 1992
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In October 1990 the First Assembly passed milestone legislation in the form of the Tobacco (Amendment) Act which introduced widespread reforms to tobacco control in the ACT. The Act put the ACT in the forefront of tobacco control in Australia, a position which it will continue to hold under this Government. The Act introduced restrictions on certain forms of cigarette packaging and on the placement of vending machines, increased penalties for sales to minors and banned smokeless tobacco products. The amendments also include a ban on tobacco advertising except at the point of sale, and a ban on tobacco company sponsorship of cultural and sporting activities. The legislation made provision for the Minister for Health to provide exemptions from the advertising and sponsorship bans where considered appropriate.
The development of the Tobacco (Amendment) Act had an unusual history reflecting the constantly changing face of government in the First Assembly. The changes to the legislation had originally been proposed by the first Follett Government but in the end were introduced by the Alliance. It nevertheless enjoyed support from all sides of ACT politics and was passed unanimously. The provisions within the amended Tobacco Act which allow for exemptions from the advertising and sponsorship bans were supported by the Labor Party in the Assembly, but with reservations.
We are strongly opposed to tobacco sponsorship of sports and cultural activities and the associated incidental advertising. We established the Health Promotion Fund in 1989 so that such sponsorship arrangements could be replaced with health-related sponsorships. This broke the incongruous and highly inappropriate link between tobacco advertising and healthy activities such as sport. The sponsorship bans and the Health Promotion Fund are designed to work hand in hand by banning tobacco sponsorship arrangements but making sure that those groups who were already in such arrangements were not financially disadvantaged by the bans.
However, Labor also recognised that exemptions needed to be provided if the Canberra community were not to be deprived of top class sporting and cultural events. As I said during a debate in the Assembly in October last year:
Nobody regrets more than I the need to provide those exemptions, but it is a matter of fact that tobacco sponsorship and tobacco advertising are sourced from outside the Territory. Events that are held to be important by the people of the Territory have sponsorship sourced from outside the Territory, such as the Winfield Cup.
It is now over one year since the bans became effective, and with them the need to provide exemptions to allow some cultural and sporting events to continue unaffected. In that time exemptions have been provided to few events, in line with the thrust of the legislation. In the main the exemptions that have been provided have related to three groups of events: The display in 1991 of entries in a national photographic competition; international cricket matches conducted in the ACT by the Australian Cricket Board, including the Prime Minister's XI match; and the Canberra Raiders' participation in the New South Wales Rugby League competition.
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