Tasmania still has the highest smoking rates of any state in Australia. Around 1400 Tasmanians have died from tobacco related diseases and illnesses since the government was elected over two years ago, however there has been no action beyond a “Discussion Paper”.
The Tasmanian Legislative Council is considering prohibiting the sale of tobacco products to persons born after the year 2000, the Public Health Amendment (Tobaccofree Generation) Bill 2014. http://www.parliament.tas.gov.au/bills/pdf/40_of_2014.pdf
This week two articles were published in international journals about tobacco control in Tasmania.
The first was a report of a study published in Tobacco Control http://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/early/2016/07/27/tobaccocontrol-2016-053105.short?rss=1 , Public perceptions of the tobacco-free generation in Tasmania: adults and adolescents, by E Trainer, S Gall, A Smith, and K Terry from the Menzies Research Institute, in collaboration with the Cancer Council, which showed strong community support for the tobacco free generation (TFG):
“Support for the TFG proposal was 75% among Tasmanian adults. Majority support extends across all sociodemographic subgroups, including 72% of current smokers. Support was higher among females and those educated up to year 12. Of those aged 12–17 years, 68% supported the TFG proposal, including 64% of those born after the year 2000, who would be directly affected by the TFG proposal. Support was higher among non-smokers and those born before the year 2000.”
The second article published in the Journal Evidence and Policy, by K Barnsley, E H Walters, and R Wood Baker, titled Political barriers to evidence-based tobacco control policy: Cronyism and cognitive dissonance, a Tasmanian case study, http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/tpp/ep/pre-prints/content-EvP_086 which outlines the failure of successive Tasmanian governments to allocate sufficient resources to tobacco control.
Conservative white males were the majority of politicians in office in Tasmania over many decades.
It is known that conservative white males, who are in positions of power, perceive less risk in identified public health problems, including climate change and smoking. McCright identifies the significance of the dominant elite of conservative white males in endorsing climate change denialist views . Palmer also studied US populations and reported that : “….… white males tend to perceive health and technology hazards as having low risk because their worldview is one of trust in institutions and authorities.”
The role of white male Tasmanian politicians in stymieing action on tobacco is outlined in the article:
A number of senior Tasmanian politicians have had brazen and unapologetic close ties with the tobacco industry and its front organisations. Many of these were smokers and all were white males.
When a group of progressive females came into power at national and state levels, (Gillard, Plibersek, Giddings and O’Byrne) there was immediate action on evidence-based tobacco control policy and swift rational decision making. Rational evidence-based decisions were absent under the conservative white male regimes. Cronyism and corruption were also limited to conservative white male politicians. There was no evidence found of corruption or cronyist links to industry amongst the progressive female political cohort who allocated resources to tobacco control.
Crony capitalism in Tasmania is characterised by structural weaknesses in the economy which make the political system vulnerable to powerful business groups. Quentin Beresford described crony capitalism in the Tasmanian context as, ‘… prone to corruption because it is based around an imbalance of power and lack of transparency in the government-business relationship’ .
Despite the Legislative Council having been advised by several legal consultants from Tasmania and overseas that there is no legal impediment to the TFG, http://www.parliament.tas.gov.au/ctee/Council/Submissions/160513%20Ivan%20Dean%20Response.pdf nevertheless the government appears unmoved and disinterested.
Close ties to the tobacco industry and its front organisations perhaps? A continuation of the crony capitalism culture of conservative white males that is indifferent to the deaths and suffering of citizens and voters, and ignores public opinion? A crony capitalism culture that is influenced by retailers who have been terrified and hoodwinked by the tobacco industry, and who are frightened they might lose a few tobacco sales in about ten years’ time if new generation of addicted smokers are not recruited? Perhaps.
There will be another ten or more deaths of Tasmanians this week from tobacco smoking. Who cares? Obviously not the government.
*Kathryn Barnsley is an Adjunct Researcher at the School of Medicine, University of a Tasmania and recently completed a PhD thesis on Barriers to evidence based tobacco control in Tasmania. All opinions expressed are her own and do not represent the views of UTAS. The research has been published in international and local journals. http://www.hrpub.org/journals/article_info.php?aid=2216
Evidence and Policy journal
http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/tpp/ep/pre-prints/content-EvP_086
Other writing on tobacco control in Tasmania, BMJ blogs http://blogs.bmj.com/tc/2014/11/04/tasmania-legislation-drafted-to-implement-a-tobacco-free-generation/
As well as,
Including Croakey https://croakey.org/litvinenko-polonium-210-tobacco-products-are-toxic-and-should-be-recalled/
and the Conversation. http://theconversation.com/whats-next-for-tobacco-control-a-smoke-free-generation-42248
Kathryn found tobacco industry interference, corruption, cronyism, smoking politicians, complex bureaucratic systems, and conservative white male politicians were barriers to evidence based health policy. Kathryn is a former member of the National Expert Advisory Committee on Tobacco, responsible for comprehensive public health legislation in Tasmania, and Convenor of SmokeFree Tasmania. http://www.dpac.tas.gov.au/divisions/csr/programs_and_services/tasmanian_honour_roll_of_women/inductees/2012/kathryn_barnsley
