July 2002

Victoria kicks butt on smoking

Victoria has been awarded top honours in the annual Tobacco Scoreboard award, which ranks the performance of State and Territory Governments for their efforts to tackle smoking.

The award, which is presented by the Australian Medical Association and Australian Council on Smoking and Health, was announced at the AMA national conference.

AMA Victorian President Mukesh Haikerwal presented it to Minister for Health John Thwaites on World No Tobacco Day at the launch of Quit’s Sports Expo at Melbourne Central.

Victoria’s initiatives in introducing comprehensive smoking bans in enclosed public places including shopping centres, restaurants and cafes, restrictions on tobacco promotion and strong enforcement of laws—particularly in the area of the sale of cigarettes to children—have pushed Victoria well beyond other state and territory governments.

This year, the award ranked each State and Territory government’s performance on a range of criteria including:

• Tobacco-related legislation;

• Initiatives to prevent young people from starting smoking;

• Initiatives to help adults smokers quit;

• Enforcement of tobacco laws;

• Restrictions on tobacco promotion;

• Smokefree workplaces;

• Initiatives to address smoking in indigenous communities.

After many years, Victoria had resumed its place as a national leader in tobacco control, a position it had not held since the late 1980s, said Quit Executive Director Todd Harper.

‘In the last few years, Victoria has progressively improved its position relative to other states and territory governments, going from fourth place and an encouragement award in 2000, to second place last year.

Mr Harper paid tribute to the collaboration between health groups in Victoria which have worked hard to encourage more to be done to tackle smoking.

‘Many health organisations like the Cancer Council Victoria, National Heart Foundation, Australian Medical Association (Victoria), Asthma Victoria and VicHealth have worked hard to support tobacco control initiatives in this state.’

Mr Harper cautioned that Victoria must not rest on its laurels.

‘We need to remember that smoking still kills 13 Victorians every day. This toll is still unacceptably high, so more needs to be done.

‘It’s important that the work continues to ensure that all workplaces are smokefree and funding is provided for Quit campaigns to help smokers to quit.’

Victoria scored highly for its work in law enforcement and restricting tobacco promotion and for the Government’s efforts to help smokers quit.

Victoria rated only three points out of 10, however, for its efforts to address smoking in the indigenous community.