Smoking is still the number one cause of illness, disability, and premature death in Australia.
It’s responsible for 9.3% of the disease burden here, leading to around 15,000 deaths each year due to smoking-related illnesses.
Tobacco use doesn’t just harm your health; it also takes a toll on the environment and economy, contributing to social inequalities.
The good news is that a range of successful strategies and programs have been rolled out to help cut down smoking rates.
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So, let’s take a look at what’s being done in the community to help you quit and share some handy resources to support you on your journey.
Nationwide Strategies to Stop Smoking
In Australia, smoking rates have been steadily decreasing since the mid-’90s.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), only 10.7% of adults were daily smokers in 2021, a significant drop from 27% in 1995 and 13% in 2019.
This downward is mainly due to community initiatives focused on helping people quit smoking and stopping new smokers from starting in the first place.
Let’s talk about these initiatives more and see how they can assist you in your quest to become smoke-free.
National Tobacco Strategy
Have you heard about Australia’s National Tobacco Strategy? It’s a big initiative aimed at improving everyone’s health by reducing tobacco use to 10% by 2018.
Right now, the government is working with community and public health experts to develop an updated strategy for 2022 to 2030.
In the meantime, the current measures from the 2012 to 2018 strategy—like plain packaging and graphic warnings—will remain in place until the new plan is finalised.
Here are the areas that the National Tobacco Strategy focuses on:
- Stropping the tobacco industry to get involved in public health policy and tobacco control policies
- Running effective media campaigns to motivate current smokers to quit, support recent quitters, discourage new smokers, and change social attitudes towards smoking
- Increasing the price of tobacco products to discourage potential buyers
- Organising programs and partnerships to reduce smoking rates among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities
- Boosting efforts to lower smoking rates in high-prevalence groups
- Banning all remaining advertising, promotion, and sponsorship of tobacco products
- Implementing stricter regulations on the supply of tobacco and alternative nicotine products
- Reducing exceptions to smoke-free policies in workplaces, public areas, and other settings
- Making smoking cessation services more accessible to help smokers quit
Tobacco Control Strategies
The Tobacco Control plan details six key components of practical strategies designed to help people quit smoking and maintain a smoke-free lifestyle long-term.
Strategy 1: Plain Packaging
Under the national plain packaging laws, all tobacco product packaging must:
- Use a designated colour.
- Adhere to a specific format for displaying the brand name.
- Include mandatory health warnings.
- Not contain any logos, brand images, or promotional text.
Studies show that plain packaging effectively helps cut down smoking rates in communities.
Based on a review, the strategy made tobacco products less appealing, strengthened health warnings, and got rid of misleading details, all of which contributed to fewer people smoking nationwide.
Strategy 2: Graphic Public Health Warnings
Most Australians will be familiar with these health warnings.
They appear on TV and on cigarette boxes, depicting the graphic and confronting realities and consequences of smoking.
The graphic public health warnings must cover most of the packaging, include certain graphics and text, and be formatted in a certain way.
They are designed to send a confronting message about the harmful effects of tobacco and encourage smokers to quit every time they go to pick up a cigarette.
Several studies have shown that graphic warnings are very effective in deterring people from smoking in the first place, as well as helping people quit.
Strategy 3: Ban Tobacco Advertisements and Promotional Materials
Research has shown that tobacco advertisements are linked to increased tobacco use.
Under the Tobacco Control program, tobacco ads or promotional materials are banned Australia-wide.
Banning this content has been proven to reduce smoking rates by reducing the desireability of smoking.
Strategy 4: Reducing the Affordibility of Tobacco
As of 2022, a pack of 20 cigarettes costs around $40.
Cigarette prices, and the price of all tobacco products, have been on the rise for several years.
In 1983, the rate of tax on tobacco products was linked to the Australian Consumer Price Index, meaning the taxes on tobacco products would automatically rise twice each year.
In addition to this biannual price increase, the government has implemented extra ad hoc tax increases over the years.
2010 saw 25% increase on cigarette taxes. In 2013, it was decided that there would be a 12.5% tax increase each year for the following eight years (until 2020) in addition to the biannual CPI tax increase.
Once adjusted for inflation, we can see that the cost of a leading cigarette brand was 8.5 times higher in 2021 than it was in 1940.
These taxes are considered a major driving force for the declining smoking rate, therefore the government plans to continue to reduce the affordability of tobacco products from 2022 to 2030.
By 2030, a 30 pack of cigarettes is projected to cost $100.
Strategy 5: Preventing Illicit Tobacco Trade
Illicit tobacco trade deprives the Australian community of funding that can be used for essential community services.
Preventing illicit tobacco trade in Australia is an important strategy to reduce smoking rates among communities, and to ensure funding is serving the community positively.
The government are preventing illicit trade by gathering intelligence, conducting investigations, seizing and destroying crops, fining and prosecuting offenders.
Strategy 6: Joining the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control
Australia have been a part of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control since 2003.
The convention provides a framework for countries to cooperate on tobacco-related policies and aims to protect people from the health, environmental, economic and social effects of tobacco.
There are a number of tangible actions Australia must take under the convention, including run education and awareness campaigns, making laws on the content of tobacco products, and supporting international tobacco measures.
Campaign Strategies
Campaigns are a key strategy used to prevent smoking within the Australian community.
The National Tobacco Campaign is the overarching strategy that has been implemented to reduce smoking rates.
The sub-campaigns, Don’t Make Smokes Your Story and Tackling Indigenous Smoking, have been introduced to reduce smoking among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
National Tobacco Campaign
The National Tobacco Campaign is one of the Health department’s longest-running public health campaigns.
It was first launched in June 1997 with the central aim of reducing smoking rates in Australia.
Within just five years of the campaign being implemented, smoking rates among addults declined by 3.75.
The goals of the campaign include
- Discouraging people from smoking
- Helping people stop smoking
- Outlining strong tobacco control policies
- Changing community attitudes about smoking.
The campaign achieves these goals through
- TV and social media ads
- Educational apps
- Online and print resources available in different languages
- Partnerships with mental health organisations such as SANE Australia
- Resource kits for prisons
- Targeted campaigns and programs for pregnant women
- Targeted campaigns and programs for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples
Tackling Indigenous Smoking
This long-term campaign helps to reduce smoking rates among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
It is an extremely important community strategy, as tobacco smoking is the most preventable cause of ill health and early death among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
Tobacco use is responsible for 23% of gap in health burden between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.
The campaign involves
- Helping Quitline provide accessible and culturally appropriate services
- The Quitskills training program for frontline community and healthcare workers
- Activities that support priority groups
- Regular evaluations
- Research to assess the outcomes
A number of groups collaborate on developing this community strategy, including the Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation, culturally-appropriate support services, evaluation experts, and organisations with experience in community development.
Don’t Make Smokes Your Story
This campaign that ran from 206 to 2018 focused on reducing smoking rates among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
The campaign was extremely successful in making smokers more likely to quit, and making smokers feel more empowered to quit.
Communities and Groups
There are a number of groups and communities set up to help you on your road to quitting.
National Resources and Support Groups
These national support communities are designed to provide you with information, support, tools and strategies to help you quit and keep you smoke-free.
- Quitline or Aboriginal Quitline (which is staffed by Aboriginal Councellors) are confidential, evidence-based telephone councelling services that deliver behavioural interventions to help you stop smoking.
- Smoke Free Clinic. At Smoke Free Clinic, we provide accurate information to help you on your journey to quitting. We put you in touch with specialist-trained GP’s via 100% cost-free, bulk-billed telehealth consultations. These GP’s can prescribe you with Nicotine Vaping Products (NVP) which help you quit smoking, and provide advice, tools, and strategies to curb the habit for good.
- iCanQuit is a free online community that can provide you with support and understanding on your quitting journey.
State-Based Resources
- Smoking (NT)
- Help to quit (ACT)
- Icanquit (NSW)
- Quit Victoria (VIC)
- Be smoke free (SA)
- Make smoking history (WA)
- Quit Tasmania (TAS)
- Quit HQ (QLD)
Subsidised Smoking Cessation Tools
A key strategy used to help reduce smoking rates is the subsidisation of Nicotine Replacement Therapies.
Nicotine Replacement Therapies (NRTs) are designed to help smokers quit and reduce the intensity of the uncomfortable withdrawal symptoms that often cause relapse.
NRTs release nicotine into the body without the other toxic chemicals found in tobacco. They have been proven to be extremely effective in aiding smoking cessation.
All forms of NRT therapy can increase the odds of quitting smoking by 50-60%.
Research has shown that combining a nicotine patch with another form of NRT, such as nicotine gum, increases the quit rate by 5% compared to just one form of NRT.
NRT products include:
- Transdermal patch
- Gum
- Lozenge
- Sublingual tablet
- Oral ingaler
- Nasal spray
NRTs have been subsidised by the government, making them more accessible to smokers who may be struggling to quit due to nicotine withdrawal and cravings.
Summary
From tobacco control strategies to nationwide campaigns and support groups, there are a number of community strategies that can help you stop smoking.
These strategies have been proven to reduce smoking prevalence among Australians and prevent the harmful health, social, environmental, and economic implications of tobacco use.
We are committed to helping you on your road to quitting, whether you’re looking for accurate, evidence-based information or a free consultation with a specialist-trained GP.
Smokefree Clinic gives you access to many medically reviewed and trustworthy resources that can inform and aid you in your path to wellness, so have a look around!
If you’re ready to get started, Smokefree can connect you to bulk-billing Australian healthcare professionals who excel in helping patients quit smoking for good, including using responsible vaping products where appropriate.
Click here to book your bulk-billed telehealth consultation with an Australian healthcare professional and quit smoking today.
Link Reference
- https://www.abs.gov.au/articles/pandemic-insights-australian-smokers-2020-21
- https://www.health.gov.au/sites/default/files/national-tobacco-strategy-2012-2018_1.pdf
- https://www.tobaccoinaustralia.org.au/chapter-1-prevalence/1-3-prevalence-of-smoking-adults
- https://obpr.pmc.gov.au/published-impact-analyses-and-reports/tobacco-plain-packaging
- https://www.health.gov.au/resources/collections/market-research-reports-on-tobacco-plain-packaging-and-graphic-health-warnings
- https://www.tobaccoinaustralia.org.au/chapter-11-advertising/11-1-the-merits-of-banning-tobacco-advertising
- https://www.tobaccoinaustralia.org.au/chapter-11-advertising/11-1-the-merits-of-banning-tobacco-advertising
- https://consultations.health.gov.au/atodb/national-tobacco-strategy-2022-2030/supporting_documents/Draft%20NTS%2020222030%20for%20consultaion%20hub.pdf
- http://www.who.int/fctc/treaty_instruments/adopted/en/
- https://www.health.gov.au/sites/default/files/don-t-make-smokes-your-story-campaign-2018-evaluation-report.pdf
- https://www.quit.org.au/articles/aboriginal-quitline
- https://www.icanquit.com.au/
- https://nt.gov.au/wellbeing/healthy-living/smoking
- https://www.health.act.gov.au/about-our-health-system/population-health/smoke-free-environment/help-quit
- https://www.icanquit.com.au/?gclid=CjwKCAiA-9uNBhBTEiwAN3IlNDU8RKttiOXBG0ToDEvyBiQ2r7aK5TeJKG_88Strf6G8Vp1rJbOezRoC9FUQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds
- https://www.quit.org.au/
- https://besmokefree.com.au/
- https://www.makesmokinghistory.org.au/
- https://www.quittas.org.au/
- https://quithq.initiatives.qld.gov.au/
- http://www.pbs.gov.au/pbs/home
- https://www.cancercouncil.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/CAN-3373-Nicotine-Replacement-Therapy-FAQs-1-Sep-2010.pdf
- https://www.racgp.org.au/getattachment/c07241b0-9dc1-41bd-b25b-764389a675c9/Pharmacotherapy-for-smoking-cessation.aspx