Lung Foundation Australia calls for tobacco sales ban at major supermarkets

Australia Broadcast Center

30-05-2025

Sarah Waters tried her first cigarette at 11-years-old, pinched from her dad's packet.
By 13, she was smoking regularly, and within a few months, she was addicted.
"When I started smoking, there was no information about the dangers," she said.
"It was actually advertised in teenage magazines … all the movie stars, models had them. It was cool, it was prestigious."
Ms Waters said she tried everything, but when cigarettes were so easy to get a hold of — in supermarkets, corner stores, service stations and at tobacconists — the temptation was hard to deny.
It's this reason why the Lung Foundation is calling for a crackdown.
The foundation wants the sale of cigarettes and tobacco products banned from major supermarkets.
Lung Foundation Australia chief executive Mark Brooke said accessibility is one of the major reasons people continue to smoke.
"By removing as many of those points of sale or limiting those points of sale, is a really important part of the solution. It's not the solution, but it's an important part of the solution," Mr Brooke said.
Ms Waters said she backed any measure that could deter people from continuing to smoke or take it up.
"If you are at the shops and they are there you can just say, 'It will be my last packet,'" she said. "If it is not there then I think it would be the extra barrier to help someone quit."
Mr Brooke said smoking rates nationwide have decreased dramatically — only about 10 per cent of the population now smokes.
But he said the time to clamp down was now, with an explosion in the number of venues selling cigarettes and tobacco products.
"Some of those are operating illegally, but some of those also have licenses," he said.
Researchers said the fear that restricting access to cigarettes could feed the booming illegal tobacco trade in Australia was "real" but would likely only affect those who were already suffering from addiction.
"As a prevention tactic, I think it's a fantastic idea," Griffith University marketing research fellow James Durl said.
In Queensland this month, health authorities seized illegal cigarettes and vapes with an estimated street value of about $20.8 million, in what it's calling its biggest raids in history.
"It's only going to affect those people who were smoking for starters," Dr Durl said.
"For those people who are smoking, and are desperately looking for a cigarette, and they have to go to a different place, I think as long as it's still legal and you're able to get it from say, a tobacconist specifically, [people won't necessarily turn to illegal operators]."
Dr Durl said restricting access is just a small step in the decades-long fight to stamp out tobacco use.
"This isn't talking about a ban — they're not becoming illegal," he said.
"[This idea is] just trying to put a delay, a buffer, between the urge to have a smoke and the actual purchasing of a smoke."
Federal Health Minister Mark Butler said the government passed laws in 2023 to "reignite the fight" against tobacco.
"Under the Tobacco Act, a range of new graphic health warnings, health promotion inserts, and on-product health messages have been developed.
"They have been informed by research and improved during rounds of market testing with smokers, to ensure they are effective, have impact and maximise engagement."
Mr Butler did not comment on whether his government would support banning major supermarkets from selling cigarettes
In a statement, Coles said it complied with all legislation around minimising the health impacts of tobacco use, "however we recognise the need to provide choice to those customers who wish to purchase these products legally".
Woolworths was contacted for comment but did not reply by deadline.
After 27 years of attempts, Sarah Waters finally found her reason to quit. Like many, it was her health that was the final straw.
"I couldn't enjoy life, like every time I laughed, I'd go into a coughing fit. It became anti-social, and it got really expensive as well," she said.
It's been 11 years since her last cigarette. Now she spends the money she saves on them on overseas holidays.
Her advice to those wanting to quit is not to give up.
"I tried patches, I tried gum, I tried hypnosis, I tried several different types of medication, I tried cold turkey, I tried fad exercise diets, and I finally found the thing that worked for me which was a medication prescribed from the doctor," Ms Waters said.