Former social smoker Hollie Hughes is in some ways a typical vaper. She used to smoke before she gave vaping a try. Through vaping, she managed to quit smoking. This is somewhat typical for many of today’s vapers who have managed to successfully use vaping products to give up smoking. What’s not typical about Hughes is that she’s a state senator for New South Wales and also the head of the Senate Select Committee on Tobacco Harm Reduction that led an inquiry into vaping.
The NSW Liberal senator has reportedly saved thousands of dollars by switching to vaping, which shouldn’t be all that surprising given that she was paying a whopping $58 for a single packet of cigarettes. For those that don’t know, Australia’s tax on cigarettes has skyrocketed their cost over recent years, leaving Australian smokers paying some of the highest prices in the world for cigarettes.
Senator Hughes did not begin vaping with the intent to quit smoking. Instead, it began as somewhat of a personal experiment sparked by curiosity. Soon after, she had managed to fully transition from cigarettes to e-cigarettes, which is a transition that many vapers have made.
Having used vaping products to quit smoking cigarettes, Hughes is now actively advocating for Australians to have access to nicotine vaping products through local retailers. At the moment, Australian smokers who want to buy vaping products that contain nicotine must import them for personal use from an overseas supplier. If Hughes has her way, Australians will have the same access to nicotine vaping products as they do cigarettes.
In Australia, adults can simply visit a local store and buy cigarettes, a product that is known to be much more harmful than vaping products.
Hughes, speaking to the Sydney Morning Herald, said that she hopes “that we can work with the health minister to say there are people that just want to consume nicotine in a safer way than cigarettes, and you can buy cigarettes pretty much everywhere.”
“I do hope that we can work with the health minister to say there are people that just want to consume nicotine in a safer way than cigarettes, and you can buy cigarettes pretty much everywhere.”
In order to achieve a scenario in which Australian smokers have the same level of access to e-cigarettes as they do traditional cigarettes, Hughes is advocating for the Australian Government to regulate nicotine vaping products as consumer products, allowing them to be sold locally just like cigarettes.
Greg Hunt MP, who has served as the Minister for Health since 2017, moved to ban the importation of nicotine vaping products in June 2020. Had his proposed ban been pushed through, those who violated the ban would have been subjected to a fine of over $200,000. Responding to his proposed ban, MPs and senators from both parties signed an open letter in which they urged him to cancel his proposal. Hughes was among the party members who signed the letter, however, her reason for doing so was different from what it is today.
At the time at which Hughes signed the letter calling for the health minister to call off his proposed ban on the importation of nicotine vaping products, the position she had taken in opposition to the ban was inspired by her belief in freedom of choice. It wasn’t until some time later when she tried vaping for herself and succeeded in using e-cigarettes to quit smoking that her reason for advocating for the rights of Australians to vape began to evolve, adding a new element to her reason for advocacy.
Months after quitting smoking by transitioning to vaping, Hughes told the Sydney Morning Herald that she has “zero want, need, desire for a cigarette” and “the thought of one makes me feel quite ill.”
“I have zero want, need, desire for a cigarette at all, in fact, the thought of one makes me feel quite ill.”
Hunt’s proposed ban was delayed not long after MPs from both parties signed the open letter in opposition to the ban, which called the proposal “too rushed.” Eventually, the health minister announced that the ban would “not be proceeding due to the significant overlap with the TGA decision.”
Following Hunt’s announcement of the ban being taken off the table, Hughes told Guardian Australia that it was clear that the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) and Hunt had listened to the Coalition’s MPs and senators.
“After the TGA and Hunt announcements, it’s clear they’ve listened, reversed position on the regulation, and that’s no longer on the table. We welcome that move.”
The Senate vaping inquiry has since released its report with the majority recommending a prescription-only model which has received backing from the health minister and the TGA. Hughes, along with National Matt Canavan, continue to campaign in opposition to the prescription-only model in a bid to make nicotine vaping products more accessible to Australia’s smokers.
As of present, the prescription-only model remains on track to apply later this year.