• March 29, 2024

Tobacco-sales compromise sought

 Tobacco-sales compromise sought

Ivan Dean, a member of the Legislative Council (MLC) of Tasmania, Australia, and the sponsor of a bill to ban the sale of tobacco products to anyone born after the year 2000, has said there is no point proceeding with the measure if it is doomed to fail in parliament, according to an Australian Broadcasting Corporation story relayed by the TMA.

On Wednesday, a parliamentary committee examining Dean’s bill released its report, saying there was no ‘significant legal impediment’ to achieving the aim of a ‘tobacco-free generation’.

But it added that the parliament should take a ‘measured and cautious approach in considering a bill which could limit or “extinguish” fundamental rights relating to age, equality and liberty’.

The report highlighted some potential practical difficulties, such as online sales and the impact on tourists.

The MLC said he would consider the findings, but pointed out that tourists usually abided by different rules in different jurisdictions.

Meanwhile, he has indicated that he is open to a compromise with the state government under which the legal age to buy tobacco products would be raised from 18 to 25.

The government is considering raising the minimum age to 21, but Dean is calling for setting it at 25 because, according to him, “[t]here is a lot of medical evidence to show the brain is not properly developed until the age of about 25”.

Dean said he was hopeful that the negotiations would result in a compromise.