Coalition tobacco plan lambasted, Queensland coal project approved by new EPA, and EVs v holidays

Good afternoon.

Leading public health experts, the Australian Medical Association and Labor have rejected Angus Taylor’s plan to cut tobacco excise by 80%, labelling the move to curb soaring illegal cigarette sales as a backward step on tobacco control.


Under the Coalition’s plan, the excise on a standard packet of 20 cigarettes would be cut from about $30 to about $6, while moves would be made to legalise and regulate vapes and nicotine pouches. The opposition leader argues the changes would undermine illicit tobacco dealers, who currently control more than half of all sales in Australia.

The Australian Medical Association president, Danielle McMullen, said the Coalition’s plan would undermine decades of public health efforts, while the Labor frontbencher Tanya Plibersek said the Coalition’s plan “will kill people”.

“The very least a country like Australia should be doing is stopping future expansion, and it’s not doing that.” – Vanuatu climate minister Ralph Regenvanu

Australia’s new national agency for environmental protection has approved its first coal project, allowing a Queensland open-cut mine to keep digging until 2055 while clearing threatened woodland and koala habitat.

Ralph Regenvanu, the Vanuatu climate change minister who led a successful case to the international court of justice finding high-emitting countries have a legal duty to stop climate harm, said Australia needs to do more to tackle the warming world. “This means a rapid transitioning away from fossil fuels and fossil fuel subsidies. There’s no other way,” he said.

When asked about fossil fuel expansions, Anthony Albanese denied that leaders of Pacific nations who fear for their country’s future because of rising sea levels had raised objections. “No, they don’t do that,” he said, “The Pacific leaders have respect for the position that we’ve taken.”

Australians are buying EVs instead of holidaying in Europe. Economics editor Patrick Commins brings you the key takeaways from the latest national accounts from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.