THE Australian Retailers Association (ARA) said that following the announcement by the New Zealand Associate Minister of Health, Jenny Salesa, to legalise vaping and nicotine e-cigarettes, Australia will soon sit behind more than 60 other countries in continuing to ban the alternatives to traditional tobacco products.

The announcement by Associate Minister Salesa last Friday emphasised that legalising vaping will enhance product quality and safety and assist low-income earners, who have some of the highest smoking rates, to switch to a cheaper and less harmful alternative.

Russell Zimmerman, executive director of the ARA, said that it was past-time that the Health Minister, Greg Hunt MP, dropped his personal opposition to legalising nicotine e-cigarettes in Australia, and followed the lead of our international counterparts.

“The Health Minister is standing in the way of a path towards better health outcomes for long-term smokers, due to a personal opposition to all forms of tobacco,” Mr Zimmerman said.

“We call on the Minister to put his personal convictions aside for the benefit of Australians, and listen to our counterparts across the Tasman, who have clearly stated that vaping is significantly less harmful than smoking.”

In August, the CSIRO’s E-cigarettes, smoking and health (the report) literature review indicated that e-cigarettes can assist some smokers in quitting traditional cigarettes. The report also provided evidence for a range of health improvements when conventional tobacco smokers make the switch.

“According to the CSIRO’s findings, it is clear that e-cigarettes are preferred by some smokers as a cessation method. Trials have found nicotine e-cigarettes are more effective at reducing conventional smoking than nicotine free e-cigarettes or no e-cigarettes,” Mr Zimmerman said.

“The Government should listen to the CSIRO and alleviate concerns about unregulated usage by allowing retailers to sell nicotine e-cigarettes legally.”

Along with the CSIRO’s report, a Crosby Textor poll conducted in June found almost 50 percent of Australians and more than two thirds of smokers support the legalisation of e-cigarettes and personal vaporisers in Australia.

“The Crosby Textor poll showed that 70 percent of Australians and 67 percent of smokers agreed that vaporisers were a way to completely phase out cigarette smoking in Australia,” Mr Zimmerman said.

With New Zealand legalising the sale of nicotine e-cigarettes, Australia will now sit behind over 60 countries, including most of the European Union, the United Kingdom, the United States of America, and several Asian nations, giving consumers ample options to circumvent local restrictions and import vaping products from overseas.

“When restrictions force consumers to import these products, rather than purchase them legally at home, consumers are exposed to the risk of unregulated and potentially unsafe products,” Mr Zimmerman said.

“The number of people who are already importing nicotine-based e-cigarettes from overseas is growing, giving offshore retailers a significant advantage and translating into a significant loss of revenue for Australian retailers.

“Allowing retailers the opportunity to sell these harm reduction alternatives is a win-win, as it provides health benefits for the community, and economic benefits, including a reduced burden on the health system and crucial support for local retailers.”

About the Australian Retailers Association:

Founded in 1903, the Australian Retailers Association (ARA) is Australia’s largest retail association, representing the country’s $310 billion sector, which employs more than 1.2 million people. As Australia’s leading retail peak industry body, the ARA is a strong pro-active advocate for Australian retail and works to ensure retail success by informing, protecting, advocating, educating and saving money for its 7,500 independent and national retail members throughout Australia. For more information, visit www.retail.org.au or call 1300 368 041.

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THE Standing Committee on Employment, Education and Training has today tabled its report, Australian Government Funding Arrangements for non-NHMRC research.

The report identifies ways to simplify research funding application and assessment processes, particularly for university researchers.

Committee chair Andrew Laming MP said, "Australian researchers spend a great deal of time and effort applying for competitive research funding.  Time spent applying for research funding, is less time available to conduct world-class research."\

The Committee has made 15 recommendations in its report.  The key recommendation is the introduction of a central online research management system for all Commonwealth grant programs, and a two-stage application process which favours the strength and merit of research ideas.

Mr Laming said, "The Committee’s recommendations aim to reduce the large volume of information required to support a research funding application. The recommendations emphasise the need to make use of existing data sources and information, improve document uniformity, and level the playing field for under-represented researchers.  This includes early and mid-career researchers, women, minority groups, Indigenous researchers and rural and regional universities."

The report also calls for a more strategic approach to Australia’s research investment, including investment and participation in international research funds.

The Committee received 97 submissions to its inquiry, and held four public hearings in Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney and Canberra.  Further information on the inquiry, including the full terms of reference, is available on the Committee website.

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THE Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit is holding its second public hearing on Wednesday for the Committee’s inquiry based on Audit Report No. 48 (2017-18), Managing Compliance with Foreign Investment Obligations for Residential Real Estate.

The committee will hear from the Australian Taxation Office, the Department of the Treasury, and the Australian National Audit Office.

Committee chair, Senator Dean Smith, said the public hearing would assess the effectiveness of the ATO’s and Treasury’s management of compliance with foreign investment obligations for residential real estate.

“The committee will consider how foreign investment compliance arrangements by the ATO and Treasury were monitored and reported, and activities undertaken to address potential non-compliance.”

The JCPAA is Parliament’s joint public administration committee. It scrutinises the governance, performance and accountability of Commonwealth agencies, and has the power to inquire into all expenditure of Commonwealth money.

The Committee examines all reports of the Auditor-General tabled in the Parliament and can inquire into any items, matters or circumstances connected with these reports.

Further information about these inquiries can be accessed via the Committee’s website.

Public hearing: Wednesday, 28 November 2018, Committee Room 2R1, Parliament House, Canberra

9am to 10am: Audit Report No.48 (2017-18), Managing Compliance with Foreign Investment Obligations for Residential Real Estate

Witnesses: Australian Taxation Office, Department of the Treasury, and the Australian National Audit Office

The public hearing will be broadcast live at aph.gov.au/live. The hearing program is available from the Committee website.

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INDUSTRY super fund, Vision Super, today announced they will be divesting from tobacco, thermal coal and tar sands producers, in addition to their existing controversial weapons exclusion.

Chief executive officer Stephen Rowe said the fund has a decision-making framework and the board applied it after seeking the views of members.

“As a values-based fund, environmental, social and governance factors are important to us when we decide how to invest,” Mr Rowe said.

“Our ESG decision-making framework looks first to reduce harm through active ownership of shares, and the Board will only decide to divest if the evidence is clear that the harm of a particular product cannot be reduced.

“We also take into account the views of our members, through member forums, feedback and surveys.

“We already had considerably lower carbon intensity than the index across our portfolio, because we don’t believe markets are pricing in carbon risk appropriately – which could put members’ money at risk.

“But thermal coal and tar sands are two of the biggest contributors to climate change, and we don’t believe the risk of continuing to use them can be mitigated. Report after report tells us that if we don’t act now to keep temperature increases contained, future generations will suffer. So the board made the decision to exclude these.

“We also looked at tobacco through the same lens, and concluded that it’s not possible to minimise the harm of a product that kills its users, and the people around them. So the decision was made to exclude tobacco too.”

Vision Super is working on a strategy for prudently selling excluded stocks out of the portfolio.

The materiality threshold for divestment has been set at 25 percent of revenues, with a buffer of +-5 percent.

https://www.visionsuper.com.au/

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