Australia is being urged to do more to reduce smoking rates in the wake of New Zealand's move to keep people currently under the age of 14 from ever buying cigarettes in their lifetime.
New Zealand currently outlaws tobacco sales to under-18s and the health ministry said on Thursday that from 2025, the age ban would increase by one year annually to keep the cohort smoke-free.
The country's 'Smokefree 2025' plan will also slash the number of retailers that will sell tobacco from 8,000 stores down to 500 nationally.
"We want to make sure young people never start smoking," New Zealand's associate health minister Ayesha Verrall said.
While 13 per cent of New Zealanders smoke, the figure soars for its Indigenous people, with 31 per cent of Maori regularly taking up the habit.
Dr Verrall said non-Maori people live on average eight years longer than Maori people, and two and a half years of that gap was attributed to smoking.
The New Zealand move has been heralded by Australian experts who say a similar approach will protect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities who have disproportionately higher smoking rates than the general population.
Alex Wodak is a board member of the Australian Tobacco Harm Reduction Association and said it is "critical" for Australia to do "the sensible thing" and work towards similar goals.
Smoking is responsible for 25 per cent of the life expectancy gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people in Australia - and more should be done to reduce the gap, he said.
Australia's smoking rates are reducing every year by an average of three per cent.
That's lagging behind other countries such as the United Kingdom, which has a tobacco reduction rate of nine per cent, and the United States, which has eight per cent.
"Although smoking rates are going down slowly [among] both First Nations and the majority of Australians, the gap between the two isn't shrinking," he said.
"[New Zealand] is not talking to the Maori and Pacific people. They're talking with them as equals. That's what Australia has to do.
"Australia could learn from our New Zealand cousins about how to treat Indigenous people properly."
Australia was the first country to mandate plain packaging of cigarettes in 2012 and has increased taxes on them by 12.5 per cent annually since 2014.
It makes Australia's cigarettes the most expensive in the world, generating more than $16 billion a year and making it the government's fourth-largest source of revenue.
But the tobacco tax is hurting low socioeconomic communities more than affluent Australians, who are more likely to be regular smokers - and Dr Wodak said the government should have a "contingency plan" when more people take up a cheaper option: the vape.
"How wonderful it would be if there was a sudden income boost in this nation because people will be spending so much less on cigarettes and spending a little bit on vaping," he said.
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Dr Wodak said New Zealand's announcement is not hasty, describing it as a "package" with steps in order to ensure smoking is phased out with less harmful alternatives, such as vaping.
"There are arguments across the board for vaping. The libertarians can't see why we deny the choice to people to do something that is a lot safer," he said.
"It's like not allowing people to have car seatbelts or airbags or use motorcycle helmets."
In a statement, the Department of Health said it was committed to reducing the prevalence of smoking and its associated health, social and economic costs.
"The government has set targets of reducing smoking rates to below 10 per cent by 2025. These targets are also consistent with Australia’s international legal obligations as a party to the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control," a spokesperson said.
"There is strong evidence that comprehensive public health strategies focussing on both the supply and demand of tobacco are most likely to achieve long-term health gains, prevent the uptake of smoking and reduce smoking prevalence."
Responsibility for the retail sale of tobacco is a matter for the states and territories, they added.
"The government will continue to work with state and territory governments to explore a range of new evidence based measures to further reduce smoking prevalence having regard to both supply reduction and demand reduction measures."
'No point in just wagging your finger'
Over in southwest Sydney, psychologist Khaled Kamalmaz has seen over 500 Arabic-speaking patients come through the Lebanese Muslim Association's (LMA) smoke cessation clinics.
The LMA launched 'quit smoking clinics' three years ago after receiving funding from the Sydney local health district for the high smoking rate of Arabic-speaking men in the community.
According to Cancer Institute NSW, 40 per cent of Arab-speaking men are regular smokers compared to 15 per cent of New South Wales' general adult male population.
This is in part due to the common cultural activity of smoking shisha, which has significant health impacts on the Arab community.
"Shisha, harm-wise, is not that different from cigarettes. In a lot of aspects, it's worse ... In a 40-minute shisha session, which is a typical average session, you can inhale as much smoke as 100 cigarettes," Mr Kamalmaz said.
"Some parts of the community will think [making changes] is an attack on their culture, but it's because there hasn't been too much work done in this space.
"We still need to make sure that they [the community] know it's as bad as smoking cigarettes. That's all work that still needs to be done."
Mr Kamalmaz, too, welcomes New Zealand's plan - but believes there are "steps that need to be taken" before Australia follows suit, such as culturally and religiously appropriate initiatives to explain the harmful effects of shisha.
"Smoking is usually an issue for low socioeconomic communities in areas, so we do know that it will impact our community," he said.
"It's important if New Zealand's law is to come about that there's an increase in smoking cessation, counselling, and other services to assist people who still choose to smoke or are forced to quit."
But Dr Wodak warns these approaches to combat smoking across the country will only be successful if the community works together to encourage positive behaviour changes.
"There's no point in just wagging your finger at somebody and saying you have to stop doing this. You have to make it an attractive transition for them. That's what New Zealand's done. That's what Australia has to do."
