Category: Uncategorized
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Innovation down under 2: tobacco endgame strategies in New Zealand (the UK & USA)
Australia and New Zealand have pursued different approaches to tobacco control. This post compares the purpose and design of their recent reforms.
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Rethinking Australia’s tobacco revenue plunge
Falling tobacco revenue and a growing illicit market have prompted calls to rethink excise. Neil Francey examines the debate and its implications for tobacco policy.
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Innovation down under 1: what has Australia been doing in tobacco control recently?
Vaping reforms have attracted attention, but Australia has also overhauled its tobacco control laws. Roger Magnusson explains the changes introduced by the 2023 national legislation.
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Paradise at risk: recommendations to control tobacco and alcohol industry interference in Pacific Island Countries and Territories
Tobacco and alcohol industry influence threatens public health across the Pacific. The authors consider how governments can better protect health policy from that interference.
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Vaping law reform: New South Wales in a federal context
There is a lot of vaping-related law reform activity going on in Australia at the moment. This (long) post reviews NSW vaping laws and provides a baseline for understanding the changes that are underway, both at NSW (State) and Commonwealth level. Background The failure to enforce nicotine control laws, together with ludicrously low penalties, have…
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Australia’s vaping train wreck: The Butler Plan to fix it and the devil in the detail
Australia’s Vaping Train Wreck Commonwealth Health Minister, Mark Butler MP, has announced that the Albanese Government is taking strong action to reduce smoking and stamp out vaping – particularly among young Australians – through stronger legislation, enforcement, education and support. This follows public consultation over December 2022 – January 2023 led by the Therapeutic Goods…
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Contraventions of the Australian Consumer Law in the promotion of e-cigarettes
In an article in The Conversation, “Sex and lies are used to sell vapes online. Even we were surprised at the marketing tactics we found”, published on 6 March 2023, Curtain University Professor Jonine Jancey notes that e-cigarettes are not harmless; they contain hundreds of chemicals, many of which are toxic with risks including addiction,…
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Global health law short courses
If you live on planet earth, you have a stake in global health law. This post draws attention to two upcoming short courses taught by global health law colleagues in Europe. Summer in Geneva? The University of Geneva will be hosting a course on International Law, Global Health and Global Justice on June 26-30, 2023.…
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Vaccine mandates webinar
On 9 December, the Parsons Centre for Law & Business, together with Corrs Chambers Westgarth, convened a seminar entitled Vaccine mandates and public health orders: legal and ethical issues for business. The seminar reviews the emergence of vaccine mandates in public health orders in NSW, and vaccine mandates imposed by businesses and other organisations from…
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Religious discrimination in Australian health law: hype or reality?
Queensland has passed the Voluntary Assisted Dying Act 2021. I’m disappointed in Queensland’s Parliament, not for passing assisted dying legislation, but for consciously trampling over the religious beliefs of Catholic and other religious healthcare organisations. Catholic hospitals are right to be aggrieved. It’s entirely predictable that church institutions are now considering civil disobedience. (See “Catholic…
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The tricky business of Covid-19 reviews & origins investigations
Dr Dominic Dwyer, Australia’s member of the WHO-convened Global Study of the Origins of SARS-CoV-2, won’t remember me, but he was generous and helpful when I interviewed him as a PhD student in the early 1990s. His more recent comments to the media illustrate the challenges of attempting to investigate the origins of SARS-CoV-2 as…
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Improving safety for patients undergoing cosmetic surgery in NSW
If you’ve ever had work done, or thought about it, the decision of the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal in Health Care Complains Commission v Blackstock should send a shiver down your spine. This case is a powerful reminder of how behaviour that constitutes professional misconduct can give rise to professional sanctions, criminal liability, and…
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Freedom to protest, public health, and Covid-19
Podcast: the recording of the event described below is available here. Recently, a number of protests have taken place on the grounds of The University of Sydney against Commonwealth government education policies. See, for example, here (28 August) and here (14 October). During the latter protest, police were filmed throwing a demonstrator heavily onto concrete (see…
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Rule of law in the Covid-19 response
The International Development Law Organisation (IDLO) has released a short publication that highlights the role of law in governments’ response to Covid-19. See here. Established by international treaty in 1988, IDLO is an inter-governmental organisation devoted to upholding the rule of law. Australia, and the United States, are among its 37 member parties, which span…
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Vaping: the madness of the British?
My google search engine thinks Public Health England (PHE) is a vaping organisation. “Vaping organisation UK”. You can try it yourself. E-cigarettes lie at the centre of PHE’s tobacco control strategy, probably drawing attention and commitment away from alternative strategies for reducing smoking rates. In September 2017, PHE encouraged smokers to “stop smoking with an…
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Post Covid: alcohol and the night time economy in the Sydney CBD
Sydney’s CBD has been bleak and empty the past few months, especially at night, but coronavirus restrictions in NSW are slowly easing. From 1 June, pubs, clubs, cafes and restaurants can seat up to 50 customers (instead of the previous 10), provided businesses ensure social distancing of one person per 4 square metres, and no…
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Who’s in control of Australia’s response to coronavirus? Part 2: Operational responses
For part 1 of this post, click here. One reason why there is a measure of confusion about operational control during an outbreak of disease with pandemic potential is because of the different functions and responsibilities of the Commonwealth, and the States within a federation. For example, even if the (modest) number of cases meant…
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Who’s in control of Australia’s response to coronavirus? Part 1: Legal frameworks
The situation in Australia with human coronavirus is deteriorating. 454 cases so far, and 5 deaths, but cases are rising rapidly. See here for updates. Globally: 6,800 deaths and rising. Australia’s Chief Medical Officer – Australia’s Director of Human Biosecurity – has advised the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) that gatherings of more than 500…
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Despite industry objections, alcohol and pregnancy warnings will be mandatory in Australia and New Zealand
The food regulator, Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) has finalised the form of the alcohol and pregnancy warning label that will be mandatory on packaged alcohol sold in both countries. Assuming the States do not request a further review, the new warning will be added as an amendment to Standard 1.2.7 of the Food…
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Legal management of the novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) in Australia
On 31 January the Director-General of the World Health Organisation, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus declared the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC), following the advice of the Emergency Committee. (See here). Under the International Health Regulations, which govern global management of infectious disease outbreaks, a declaration that a PHEIC exists…