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A group of 11 education, school parent and medical associations have banded together to call on the government to pass legislation that would ban the sale and supply of recreational vapes.
On January 1 this year, the government banned the importing of disposable vapes, and on July 1, it hopes to outlaw the sale and supply of vapes used other than for therapeutic purposes.
The Australian Medical Association (AMA) has written a joint letter with the Australian Education Union (AEU), Australian Parents Council and eight other bodies to demand government makes haste on the progress of that legislation.
Principals and teachers have said vaping is one of the main reasons students become disengaged and badly behaved at school.
“Vaping is becoming normalised in Australian schools and big tobacco and the vaping lobby will do anything and say anything to keep these products on retail shelves – at the expense of children’s health,” AMA president Professor Steve Robson said.
“Vapes are filled with highly addictive nicotine and laced with chemicals that are known to be dangerous to human health, including formaldehyde, mercury and arsenic.
“The human brain does not stop developing until the mid-20s and nicotine is proven to have negative impacts on cognition, reasoning and attention – not to mention the significant disruption vaping has to school learning environments.”
Vapes and e-cigarettes were created to help hardened cigarette smokers quit by weening them off nicotine.
However, many disposable vapes are now marketed towards children through brightly coloured, cartoonish packaging and flavours such as bubblegum or strawberry.
Most vapes also look like USB sticks or highlighter pens to be hidden in student's pencil cases.
An online anti-vaping prevention scheme will be available to all schools from 2025 after data showed nine out of 10 vaping stores are within walking distance of schools, and almost one in 10 people over the age of 14 have used e-cigarettes.
AEU president Correna Haythorpe said combatting this issue requires a systemic response.
“Vaping is a significant issue facing Australian schools, and our members have highlighted its disruptive impact for students and for teaching and learning," she said.
“The management of situations where student vaping is occurring should not be an additional burden carried by teachers who are already experiencing unsustainable workloads and managing more complex classrooms."
The Labor government’s anti-vaping laws have passed through the Lower House, and are currently before the Senate.
The third tranche of the legislation has been opposed by the Nationals, who want to tax, rather than ban, vaping products without a prescription.
Industry modelling has projected that if legalised and subject to an excise, vapes could bring Victoria and NSW an extra $600m in GST over the next four years.
Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce said controlling vaping products like cigarettes and alcohol would limit revenue entering the black market. He said, however, that he wouldn’t support regulation of illicit substances such as cannabis.
“People are making money out of it [vapes] – the mafia predominantly – and if you want to fix that you have to bring it into regulated form,” he told channel 7's Sunrise.
“The issue we have with vapes is … I don’t vape, they’re not good for you, and they will kill you, but so do cigarettes and they’re legal.”
Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek said the government would not reverse its plans and said a ban was needed to protect younger generations from the negative health effects of e-cigarettes.
“The only people who want more sales of vapes in Australia are the big tobacco companies,” she said.
The Coalition and the Greens are yet to take a stance on the legislation. Greens leader Adam Bandt has said he favoured a harm-minimisation model rather than prohibition.
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