NT Government told to stub out the cigarette

The Northern Territory has won the AMA’s Dirty Ashtray Award for putting in the least effort to reduce smoking, AMA President, Professor Brian Owler, announced at the AMA National Conference in Canberra today.

Ahead of World No Tobacco Day on 31 May 2016, Professor Owler said that despite Australia making good progress overall in tobacco control over the past 12 months, there can be no room for complacency.

“Smoking will cause the deaths of 1.8 million smokers now alive. It is the leading cause of premature death and disease, and one Government is virtually standing still on what is a vital public health issue,” Professor Owler said. 

“The Northern Territory is the clear winner of the Dirty Ashtray Award. Along with Victoria it received an E grading on the National Tobacco Scoreboard.”

The Dirty Ashtray Award is presented by the AMA and the Australian Council on Smoking and Health (ACOSH) each year to put a spotlight on governments that have failed to do enough to protect people from passive smoking or to encourage smokers to give up the deadly habit.

“It seems that reducing smoking and its harms is not a priority for the Northern Territory Government,” Professor Owler said.

“Northern Territory lags behind all other jurisdictions in its failure to protect non-smokers. Visitors to Northern Territory notice only too well that smoking is still permitted in many locations, including pubs, clubs and dining areas.

“But, more importantly, the Northern Territory Government has dropped the butt when it comes to education programs, especially those with a special focus on Indigenous smoking and other high risk communities and groups.”

Professor Owler said he hoped that the strong message sent out to governments through with the Dirty Ashtray Award and the National Tobacco Scoreboard Award would intensify efforts to encourage more people to quit the killer habit and stamp out smoking.

27 May 2016
 
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