1: Tobacco control environment, 1989-1995

Legislation to restrict tobacco advertising

Between 1989 and 1993 there was considerable legislative activity designed to restrict advertising and promotion of tobacco, but little new subsequent activity. Total mass media advertising of smoking- related goods in Australia fell from over $39 million per annum in 1989 (the highest it had ever been in current-dollar terms),* to almost nothing in 1992 after implementation of the Smoking and Tobacco Products Advertisements (Prohibition) Act (Cwlth) passed on 28 December 1989. Between 1989 and 1992, outdoor advertising was also phased out under the terms of the Victorian (1988-1990), South Australian (1989-1990), Australian Capital Territory (1990-1992), Western Australian (1990-1992), and finally the New South Wales (1991-1993) and the Northern Territory (1992-1993) State and Territory tobacco control Acts.**

Between 1992 and 1995, mass media expenditure remained negligible,* and the small remaining amounts of outdoor advertising in existence in Queensland and Tasmania were phased out under the terms of the Tobacco Advertising Prohibition Act 1992 (Cwlth). Advertising and promotion at point of sale were not prohibited, and, while data concerning expenditure on this form of advertising are not available, antismoking organisations report frequent comments by retailers, parents and environmental health officers that point-of-sale advertising increased dramatically after passage of the Act in 1992.

Restrictions on smoking

Like restrictions on promotion of tobacco products, downward pressures on smoking, such as restrictions on smoking at work, increased dramatically between 1989 and 1992, and much less dramatically between 1992 and 1995. In 1991 there was a significant High Court ruling concerning the health effects of passive smoking that received widespread media coverage.¹¹ This and the first instance of a court awarding damages to a person adversely affected by passive smoking¹² apparently prompted many employers to introduce workplace smoking bans. In Victoria there was a threefold increase between 1988 and 1992 in the number of indoor workers working in a totally smoke-free environment;¹³ between 1992 and 1995 the increase was only marginal.¹⁴

Antismoking campaigns

Perhaps more significantly, Quit campaigns in the various States barely maintained their expenditure on adult-directed programs between 1991-92 and 1994-95. We aggregated detailed costings provided to us by the responsible offices in each State and Territory and the Commonwealth to arrive at an estimate of the total amount spent on adult-directed programs each year between 1983-84 and 1995-96. Salary costs, printing, production and media advertising costs were included. Figure 2 (below) shows the pattern of spending, beginning at just under 30 cents per adult (in 1989-90 dollars) in 1983-84, rising to a peak of nearly 70 cents in 1989-90, then falling to around 25 cents in 1995-96. For reference, the percentage of adults smoking in our 1983, 1986, 1989, 1992 and 1995 prevalence surveys are also indicated in this Figure. It can be seen that at the time prevalence was declining per capita expenditure on programs was rising, but as expenditure dropped there was a levelling off in the previous decline in prevalence.
* Data compiled by Commercial Economic Advisory Service of Australia from figures collected by TART Pty Ltd, 1997.

** Tobacco Act 1987 (Vic); Tobacco Products Control Act Amendment Act 1988 (SA); Tobacco (Amendment ) Act 1990 (ACT); Tobacco Products Control Act 1990 (WA); Tobacco Advertising Prohibition Act 1991 (NSW); Tobacco Act 1991 (NT).