Tobacco control legislation review

Why we reviewed the legislation

We reviewed Commonwealth tobacco laws and regulations related to:

• advertising
• plain packaging.

We reviewed these to:

• modernise and simplify them
• respond to changes in technology
• ensure they still:
  • discourage smoking and the use of smoking products
  • improve public health in Australia.

What we considered

We looked at:

• what was working well in the previous legislation
• what, if any, changes we could make to the legislation
• whether any parts of the legislation were redundant
• whether any parts of the legislation were overcomplicated, ambiguous or unclear
• whether regulations could be simpler and easier to enforce
• any other tobacco related legislation and aspects of tobacco control that the Australian Government should consider and prioritise.

How we reviewed this legislation

We involved a range of stakeholders when we reviewed the legislation.

We ran a:

• public consultation from January to March 2019
• series of stakeholder workshops from May to July 2019
• public consultation from 31 May 2023 to 14 July 2023 – this included exposure draft legislation
• public consultation from 11 December 2023 to 8 January 2024 – this focused on draft regulations and the proposed graphic health warnings and health promotion inserts.

Consultation is now complete. We considered all feedback as part of our review.

You can view consultation submissions on the Consultation Hub. 

Changes to tobacco legislation

The changes to the tobacco legislation came into effect on 1 April 2024.

Laws that were revoked

• Tobacco Advertising Prohibition Act 1992
• Tobacco Advertising Prohibition Regulation 1993
• Tobacco Plain Packaging Act 2011
• Tobacco Plain Packaging Regulations 2011
• Trade Practices (Consumer Product Safety Standard) (Reduced Fire Risk Cigarettes) Regulations 2008
• Competition and Consumer (Tobacco) Information Standard 2011
• Trade Practices Act 1974 – Consumer Protection Notice No. 10 of 1991 – Permanent Ban on Goods.

Current laws

• Public Health (Tobacco and Other Products) Act 2023
• Public Health (Tobacco and Other Products) Regulations 2024
• Public Health (Tobacco and Other Products) (Consequential Amendments and Transitional Provisions) Act 2023
• Public Health (Tobacco and Other Products) (Consequential Amendments and Transitional Provisions) Rules 2024.

More information

Learn about the new legislation and how it may affect you.