Seven years jail time for unlawful vape manufacturers, suppliers as government introduces world-first anti-vaping laws

Illegal vape manufacturers and suppliers could face up to seven years in prison and fines of up to $2.2m under a new wave of anti-vaping laws introduced by the federal government.

Health Minister Mark Butler introduced new legislation on Thursday to ban the import, manufacture, supply and commercial possession of disposable single-use and non-therapeutic vapes.

Australians will be able to lawfully purchase vaping devices if they obtain a prescription from a GP.

“The reforms are world-leading, vaping is a very serious public health menace and the rapid rise in vaping among young people is creating a whole new generation of persons with nicotine dependence,“ Health Minister Mark Butler said.

“This is a crisis that deserves our national attention.”

To pass its vaping reforms through the Senate, the government will need the support of either the Greens or the Opposition.

Both the Nationals and the Greens have raised concerns about the tough new laws, with Nationals leader David Littleproud criticising the government’s “prohibition” like approach to reform and suggesting that Australia regulate vapes like cigarettes.

Speaking to reporters, Mr Butler said he didn’t expect the Nationals to back Labor’s proposal but urged the Liberals, Greens and crossbenchers to come to the table.

“The laws I’m introducing to parliament today have been the subject of long consultation. We had hundreds and hundreds of submissions from parent groups, from school communities who are really worried about this now as the number one behavioural issue in their schools,” he said.

“This is a very rare opportunity to do something really meaningful and lasting for the health of young Australians.”

Dutton: Onus on Rudd to make up with Trump

Kevin Rudd must work to repair his relationship with Donald Trump to firm up his diplomatic status as US ambassador ahead of the next presidential election, Opposition leader Peter Dutton has said. 

Fallout continued on Thursday after the Republican presidential candidate called Mr Rudd “nasty” during an interview and suggested the former prime minister won’t hold onto his new role for long if he were to retake power in November. 

Speaking to 2GB on Thursday, Mr Dutton argued that the responsibility was on Mr Rudd to make amends, pointing to Anthony Albanese’s decision to appoint the former Labor leader despite his strong past criticisms of the former President.

“Labor would have been completely dismissive and said there’s no way in the world that Trump could have been re-elected .. and that’s come back to bite them,” he said.

“It was a captain’s call and Anthony knew all of the risks that he was facing when he decided to appoint Kevin. I would have been against the advice of a lot of his colleagues, but he made that he made the decision and we respect that.”

“If you’ve got an administration who says that they can’t work with a particular ambassador then you know the history of those people being recalled and I suppose the onus is on Mr Rudd now to repair the relationship.”

Speaking to ABC Radio earlier, former UK High Commissioner George Brandis urged leaders to show bipartisan support for Mr Rudd, but warned against over-analyzing Mr Trump’s comments.

“Donald Trump is infamous for making rather wild and off-the-cuff claims that don’t in the end amount to very much, so it’s something that the government should keep an eye on, but I wouldn’t over-interpret it,” he said.

Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce told breakfast television Mr Trump wouldn’t “roll over” on the Australian government if he beat Joe Biden to the White House.

“Trump will do lots and lots and lots of things, which we will have lots of time to speak about, but rolling over won’t be one of them. And once he sets a path, I think that Rudd’s cooked,” Mr Joyce told Today.

“Might as well drag him back, send him to another country, send him over to France or, I don’t know, The Hague or make him deputy secretary of the United Nations. I don’t know, do something else with him. There are lots of lots of other jobs, lots of wonderful Pacific Islands.”

Health Minister Mark Butler said Australia’s ambassador to Washington was widely a respected figure across the political aisle.

“We’re very confident that whatever happens in November, he’ll be able to work with all US administrations,” he said of Mr Rudd.

Albo pressured on deaths in custody

Crossbench MPs and senators have urged the Prime Minister to take action to reduce high rates of Indigenous deaths in police custody.

Data released last month showed incarceration rates of Indigenous people had more than doubled since the release of the 1991 Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody and the 1997 Bringing Them Home Report.

In an open letter to Anthony Albanese, Indigenous Minister Linda Burney and Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus, crossbenchers called for “tangible” and “immediate” action to fully implement both inquiries’ recommendations.

“In just the last few weeks we’ve seen horrific reports of children dying by suicide in prison, revelations of systemic racism in the police, and accounts of new babies being removed from their mothers moments after birth,” Victorian senator Lidia Thorpe said.

“We need justice, the Albanese government must show national leadership on these key reform areas now. We cannot let another government get away with no action.”

The letter has gained the support of senators David Pocock, Jacqui Lambie, and Tammy Tyrrell and MPs Andrew Wilkie, Kylea Tink, Zali Steggall, Monique Ryan, Kate Chaney, Zoe Daniel, Helen Haines, Sophie Scamps, and Allegra Spender.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people made up one-quarter of deaths in custody in 2022-2023

There have been 15 deaths since January 1, 2024.

Following the release of a productivity commission report accusing the federal government of “weak” action on meeting its Closing The Gap targets, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese recognised that governments had largely failed to meet their commitments to reducing Indigenous disadvantage.

“We cannot ask for infinite patience. We all agree that the status quo is unacceptable,” Mr Albanese told parliament in February

China’s ‘calculated’ Keating move

A request from the Chinese officials to meet with former Labor leader Paul Keating on the sidelines of his official visit to Australia is a “calculated” move designed to humiliate the federal government, opposition home affairs minister James Paterson has claimed.

The former prime minister will meet with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Sydney on Thursday one day after he met with Australian Foreign Minister counterpart Penny Wong in Canberra.

Ahead of talks, Senator Paterson told Sky News that he believed the meeting had been used by China to send a clear signal to the Albanese government given Mr Keating’s strong past criticisms of Labor’s approach to foreign relations with China.

“(Mr Keating) has been incredibly unprofessional and undiplomatic about the way he’s commentated about the foreign minister in particular … make no mistake this is deeply unwelcome here in Canberra in the Labor Party,” he told Sky News.

“It’s not the act of a friendly nation it’s the act of a nation which is trying to, as it has for many years, coerce and pressure us to do things against our national interest,” he said.”

Migration crackdown 

Labor will push forward its crackdown on fraudulent visa applications and dodgy higher education providers amid the release of record-high migration figures.

New migration data, to be released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Thursday, will show that Australia’s annual migration intake soared to 544,000 in the year to September.

Ahead of the figures’ release, the government has rushed to announce that it will roll out tougher language requirements for student and graduate visas starting Saturday, March 23.

It will also begin a clampdown on a loophole in Australia’s visa system that allows international students to abandon university courses for cheap private colleges, otherwise known as “ghost colleges”.

Over the coming weeks, high-risk education providers will be issued with a six-month deadline to comply with new standards or otherwise face suspension from recruiting students from overseas.

“The actions this weekend will continue to drive migration levels down while delivering on our commitments in the migration strategy to fix the broken system we inherited,” Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil said.