Government Reveals Details of Australia’s Incoming Vape Ban

The Australian government has confirmed the timeline and details for the first phase of its vape crackdown, which was announced in May, and will begin next year. Here we go. 

From January 1, 2024: the importation of all disposable, single-use vapes – whether they are labelled as nicotine-free or not – will be banned. 

Medical practitioners and nurses will be able to prescribe vapes. Patients will be able to buy their prescription vapes at pharmacies only. 

From March 1, 2024: The personal importation of any vape product, disposable or not, as well as the importation of refillable non-therapeutic vapes, will be banned. 

Tighter regulations of flavours, nicotine levels and packaging will be introduced alongside new legislation to block the domestic manufacture, advertisement, sale and possession of non-therapeutic vapes.

Currently, penalties for nicotine vape possession and supply vary from state to state. In Victoria, the maximum penalty is a fine of about $1800,  In NSW  The maximum penalty is a $2,200 fine and/or six months imprisonment. In Queensland anyone who possesses a nicotine vape without a prescription or reasonable excuse faces a maximum penalty of a $27,570 fine.

Those rules are applied only to nicotine vapes at the moment, because that’s what’s currently outlawed in Australia but it’s easy to get around those because pretty much every vape you buy here doesn’t list nicotine as an ingredient. 

Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, Federal Health Minister Mark Butler said new penalties for sellers would come, but couldn’t give the details yet. When asked about blanket bans on the possession of all vapes, Butler said the government wouldn’t be taking that path.

“That was obviously an option,” he said.

“We determined that the mischief here was in the import and supply. We're not about to attribute blame to people who use these products and have become addicted.

“This has been a vast act of subterfuge by the tobacco industry that promoted the development of these products and the marketing of these products, as I said, for one clear purpose to recruit a new generation of nicotine addicts and I'm not going to blame those users. I am going to blame the people who develop, import and supply them, and we’re going to try and stamp that out.”

Since the ban was announced in May, police have been publishing press releases on successful raids on vape retailers and distributors, to effectively send a message to the public, so a similar blitz could happen in the new year. 

Butler also said “All Australian governments are committed to working together to stop the disturbing growth in vaping among our young people”.

“Vaping was sold to governments and communities around the world as a therapeutic product to help long-term smokers quit. It was not sold as a recreational product — especially not one targeted to our kids — but that is what it has become.”

Since nicotine vapes were made illegal in 2021, vape rates have skyrocketed and recent research by Cancer Victoria showed that about one in five people aged between 18 and 24 were current vapers.

Cancer Victoria also said this is leading to an uptick in youth smoking rates for the first time since the mid-90s.

Mr Butler said this was the main reason behind the ban, that vaping was creating a “whole new generation of nicotine dependency”.

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Aleksandra Bliszczyk is the Deputy Editor of VICE Australia. Follow her on Instagram.