MEDIA RELEASE

 

NICK XENOPHON M.L.C.

INDEPENDENT NO POKIES MEMBER OF THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL

26 October 2004

 

MINISTER FIDDLES WHILST SMOKERS’ LUNGS BURN

REVEALED: FOR OVER 5 MONTHS HEALTH MINISTER HAS SAT ON KEY TOBACCO PLAN

 

As State Parliament’s Upper House prepares to vote late today on the Government’s watered down tobacco control legislation, No Pokies MLC Nick Xenophon has revealed that the Health Minister has failed to publicly release – since May of this year – a key report prepared by an expert committee to curb smoking diseases in SA.

The Ministerial Reference Group on Tobacco – set up by Health Minister Lea Stevens shortly after she came to office in 2002, provided a comprehensive blueprint to her to tackle the $2 billion a year cost to the State of smoking diseases and the 1,500 deaths of South Australians each year.

It is believed the Group’s State Tobacco Action Plan was handed to the Minister in May of this year, but the Minister has yet to disclose the report’s contents.

“The questions have to be asked: Why has the Minister sat on this key report for so long?  Why hasn’t Parliament got the benefit of the report’s recommendations before the debate in Parliament is over?  Would the Minister be embarrassed by the release of this report while the legislation is being dealt with in Parliament?”

Mr Xenophon will attempt to obtain a copy of the report during the Parliamentary debate this afternoon. He will also put forward a number of amendments to the Government’s bill, including:

●      Bringing forward smoking bans to pokies rooms and the casino to the end of 2004, instead of the Government’s timetable of October 31st 2007 .

●      A 75% subsidy for Nicotine patches to help smokers kick the habit.

●      Requiring cinemas to show anti smoking adverts before films that glamorise smoking.

●      Reinstating point-of-sale restrictions, which were in the Government’s original bill, but deleted after the  Government caved in to industry lobbying.

"The Health Minister’s compromises and back-downs on this legislation are nothing short of sickening”.

 

Written and authorised by Nick Xenophon, 653 Lower North East Road, Paradise, SA 5075