Parliamentary Questions

With smoking to be banned inside all pubs and clubs next month, can the minister inform the house what the state government is doing to alert the public to this very significant and welcome change?

Mr J.A. McGINTY replied:

I thank the member for Victoria Park for a question that I hope I can answer. From the end of next month, smoking will be banned in all pubs, bars, nightclubs and sporting clubs throughout Western Australia. We will be one of the first states in Australia to have achieved this very important public health milestone. Not only that but, uniquely for Australia, it has been done with the full support of public health organisations and the industry and unions involved, in particular, the Australian Hotels Association. As part of the banning of smoking in pubs and clubs, those industry and health groups will undertake a substantial TV, print and radio campaign to inform the public of the changes and to reinforce the fact that hospitality venues will be even more welcoming when they become smoke free. That publicity campaign has had $530 000 allocated to it. The message will be a very simple one - with these major changes in smoking regulation and the severing of that link between hospitality and enjoyment, on the one hand, and smoking on the other, there has never been a better time to give up smoking. The quit message will be there, loud and clear.

Of course, reducing smoking is more than just implementing bans. The Tobacco Products Control Act, which passed through Parliament in March this year, will give the government tremendous power to reduce the availability of tobacco products, particularly to minors, and to further limit the scope of tobacco advertising. Members may not be aware that, two weeks ago, the Australian Medical Association and the Australian Council on Smoking and Health issued their annual report on smoking and stated that Western Australia was leading the nation in combating smoking, with the most comprehensive tobacco control laws in the nation. The Western Australian government was awarded top points by the AMA, which stated that the Western Australian government had done great things in its commitment to tobacco control, and was following up words with action. Western Australia has the lowest rate of smoking among adults in the nation. The proportion of the population smoking is down from 20.1 per cent in 2001 to 15.5 per cent this year. That is a remarkable achievement, but it stands in stark contrast to the position of the Liberal Party. Last week, the member for Dawesville tried to get in on the antismoking juggernaut launched by this government by trumpeting a plan to ban smoking in cars carrying children.

Dr K.D. Hames interjected.

Mr J.A. McGINTY: The member does not want to hear this, does he?

The very next day, the member for Hillarys, very sensibly in my view, poured cold water on the proposal of the member for Dawesville, saying that he supported education rather than legislation to stop adults smoking in cars carrying children. The West Australian’s columnist Paul Murray described the Liberal Party proposition as “Nanny State”. He called upon the Liberals to scrap this stupid idea, and went on to say that there is nothing sillier than the Parliament passing laws that will not be policed correctly. Of course, this was just the member for Dawesville off on his own, because the Liberal Party has not endorsed his proposal. He got his cheap headline, but where is the legislation? He said last week that he would be introducing it into Parliament this week. Where is it?

Dr K.D. Hames: Watch this space!

Mr J.A. McGINTY: There is something more unusual about the Liberal Party. The Australian Electoral Commission’s register of donations made to political parties shows that, in February 2005, during the course of the state election campaign, the Liberal Party of Western Australia received $13 517 from British American Tobacco Australia Ltd. According to the records, this donation was in the form of a paid secondment of Ms Caroline Denyer, an employee of British American Tobacco. The Liberal Party did not do what was required by law and disclose that donation from the tobacco company concerned. I suggest members opposite go back and have a good look at the records and make sure that that is corrected now. On the one hand, the Liberal Party is secretly accepting donations from tobacco companies and not declaring those donations, and on the other it goes for cheap headlines that it will not follow up with legislation. I ask members to contrast that with the action of this government on the tobacco question and the national recognition that has received.