Committee Details

Committee’s report

The committee tabled Report No. 10, 57th Parliament - Tobacco and Other Smoking Products (Vaping) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2024 on Friday, 2 August 2024. The Bill was passed with amendment on Wednesday, 11 September 2024.

View: Report
View: Debate on the Bill in Parliament: Transcript 11 September 2024 (starts at page 3015, 3044).
          The debate on the Bill can viewed by clicking on the movie icon within the above transcript.

About the bill 

On 12 June 2024, the Hon Shannon Fentiman MP, Minister for Health, Mental Health and Ambulance Services and Minister for Women, introduced the Tobacco and Other Smoking Products (Vaping) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2024 into the Queensland Parliament and referred it to the Health, Environment and Agriculture Committee for examination. The committee is required to report on its examination of the Bill by 2 August 2024.  

View: Explanatory speech 
View: Bill 
View: Explanatory Notes 
View: Statement of compatibility 

The stated objective of the Bill is to ensure Queensland can appropriately enforce the Therapeutic Goods and Other Legislation Amendment (Vaping Reforms) Bill 2024 (Commonwealth Bill) to ban the importation, manufacture, supply, and commercial possession of all disposable single use and recreational vapes; and amend the Tobacco and Other Smoking Products Act 1998. The Bill is intended to ensure that Queensland can take strong and decisive action to regulate vaping and address the high levels of uptake of vaping among children and young adults.

The Bill amends the Tobacco and Other Smoking Products Act 1998 (TOSPA) to:

• insert a definition of ‘illicit nicotine products’, capturing within that term, vaping goods (that is, vaping devices, substances and accessories, as defined in the Commonwealth Bill), as well as products containing nicotine or another substance detrimental to health that have been prescribed by regulation;
• remove the definition of ‘personal vaporiser’ and incorporate relevant aspects of it within the definition of ‘vaping device’;
• insert new offences relating to the supply and possession of illicit nicotine products;
• amend section 161 to provide that a person must not as part of a business activity, supply or possess illicit tobacco, to align it with the new provision regulating the supply and possession of illicit nicotine products;
• increase the current penalties for persons who supply and possess illicit tobacco as part of a business activity;
• clarify that the prohibition on commercial possession extends to an off-site premises, such as a storage shed or vehicle, if the premises is used for the purpose of storing or possessing illicit tobacco or illicit nicotine products;
• create a power for the chief executive to order the interim closure of a premises from which illicit tobacco or illicit nicotine products are being supplied as part of a business activity, or from which a business is being carried on without a licence, and for the Magistrates Court to order closure for a longer stated period of up to six months, and ancillary offences relating to violating closure orders;
• create a power for the District Court to grant an injunction against a person who supplies illicit tobacco or illicit nicotine products as part of a business activity;
• create a new offence for an employee or a person acting on behalf of another person (for example, a family member or friend of the business owner working in the business) to supply illicit tobacco or illicit nicotine products in retail and wholesale outlets;
• create a new offence relating to adults who supply illicit nicotine products to children outside of a business activity;
• create new offences relating to displaying, advertising and promoting illicit nicotine products;
• increase penalties for providing false or misleading information and failing to give information about an offence;
• introduce executive liability offences to ensure that executive officers of corporations who supply illicit tobacco and illicit nicotine products, and commit other key offences under TOSPA, can be held liable;
• include additional circumstances where an authorised person may, without the occupier’s consent or a warrant, enter a place;
• make other minor amendments to support enforcement:
  • amend the long title and objects of TOSPA to capture illicit nicotine products;
  • amend relevant references to ‘smoking product’ to also reference ‘illicit nicotine product’;
  • provide that ice pipes and bongs, which are prohibited items under TOSPA, may be forfeited after seizure;
  • replace the current requirement for seized goods to be returned within six months with a requirement that they be returned within 12 months;
  • clarify that for enforcing the illicit tobacco and illicit nicotine product provisions, police officers may exercise all the powers of an authorised person under TOSPA;
  • clarify that section 234 of TOSPA, which provides that only the chief executive of Queensland Health may commence a proceeding, refers to prosecutions, not other enforcement powers; and
  • insert relevant definitions.

To help address the issue of vape littering, the Bill also amends the Waste Reduction and Recycling Act 2011 to create a specific dangerous littering offence for depositing a vaping device or vaping accessory (as defined under TOSPA).

Call for submissions

To view the submissions, click on the ‘View Submissions’ tab above.

PUBLIC PROCEEDINGS

The committee held a public briefing on the Bill on Monday, 24 June 2024. 

A public hearing was held on Wednesday, 10 July 2024. 

Timeline