I’m going to say it how I mean it right from the start. I despise vaping.

I also despise all those shiny vape shops. And how dairies have cashed-in on this appalling poison that was supposed to be the great saviour for people addicted to cigarettes.

What a crock that was, wasn't it? And we know it was a crock because now we have kids and teenagers - and probably some older people too - sucking on these blimmin’ vapes even though they’ve never smoked a cigarette.

In fact, not just sucking on them. Addicted to them.

So when I heard that Australia has announced a crackdown on vaping I thought to myself ‘we have to do the same thing here’.

The federal Government over there is introducing tough new rules because, like we should be doing, it's declared that vaping is an epidemic and has called time on all the corporates and retailers making money selling a lie to people that these things are better for their health.

And so what’s going to happen across the Tasman, is there’ll be no more shiny vape shops. There aren’t going to be any of the flavoured imports in Australia, either.

The ones you can smell a mile off. There are hundreds of them. Green Grape. Peach. Gummy Lemon. Nutty Cream. As if your genuine reformed smoker gives a toss about flavours. These are all targeted at people who have never smoked a cigarette before in their life.

It is such a con and we have all fallen for it. But it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do anything about it.

Which is why I love the tough talk that’s coming out of Australia.

So, the Government there is going to effectively shut down the vape shops by making pharmacies the only place you can get them. It’s going to restrict flavours and colours. It’s going to reduce the nicotine content. And it’s going to ban single use vapes which are not only toxic to the people who suck on them - but toxic for the natural environment too because they end up in landfills.

Win, win, win - as far as I’m concerned. Because I have long thought that the only way someone should be able to use a vape here is if they are a genuine reformed smoker and they should only be able to get these things with a prescription from a pharmacy.

The head of General Practice New Zealand Dr Bryan Betty thinks so too.

He’s been saying for an even longer time than me that vapes should be pharmacy-only and he wants an urgent debate about what we do about vaping here in New Zealand.

But, appallingly, just one day after Australia announced its plans, we’ve got Health Minister Dr Aysha Verrell saying that New Zealand won’t be following Australia’s lead anytime soon.

That’s because the Government has been “consulting” us on what we think should happen. You may have missed this because the Government announced it on the January 4. But, back then, it put out a statement asking what people thought about banning vape retailers from near schools and sports grounds.

It also put out this idea of somehow limiting the names vape manufacturers can use for their products so they aren’t so attractive to young people.

The third thing the Government put up for discussion, was trying to cut out the use of single-use products.

And it gave people until mid-March to comment and so it’ll now be going through all the feedback and then probably kick it into touch until after the election. Because that’s what governments do, don’t they?

Not in Australia, though. They see a problem and they do something about it. And I just wish we had the same fortitude on this side of the Tasman.

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