National MP Barnaby Joyce and Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek have entered into a heated debate over whether regulating vapes is a better approach than banning the products entirely.
A report in The Daily Telegraph i The Sun Herald says NSW and Victoria could respectively get $836 million and $765 million in GST revenue over four years if vaping were regulated like tobacco.
Joyce told Seven's Sunrise given that vapors do not have the effect of alcohol or drugs that inhibit a person's ability to drive or perform in public, there should not be a complete ban on the product.
Tanya Plibersek has responded to a report that states could raise revenue by taxing vaping, rather than banning it.Credit: Rhett Wyman
“We have to be realistic and say that unless … you want people to take an unregulated product from China and the money is flying to criminals and to China and to criminals in Australia, then you have to be realistic and say, well, wouldn't it be better if we had a regulated product that we can restrict control of and the revenue goes back to the Australian health system where it belongs,” he said.
Plibersek disagreed, telling Joyce: “You could make some money from tax revenue, we'd spend billions on the health system to clean up the mess of vaping addiction that has taken over the today's youth.”
In response, Joyce said he agreed with Plibersek's concern, but vapors were now available despite laws restricting their use.
Barnaby Joyce, backbench of the Nationals.
“Well, by that reckoning…let's legalize illegal drugs Barnaby because, you know, they're still out there,” Plibersek replied.
Joyce, however, makes the final joke, saying that comparing illicit drugs to vapes is not a valid argument.
“If you roll the cones and then jump in a car, you're likely to kill someone and… [it] it inhibits how you act, it makes you dangerous, but the problem with [vapes] … it's not healthy,” he said.
