Senator Peter Georgiou from One Nation in Western Australia gave a compelling speech in the federal Parliament tonight supporting the legalisation of vaping.

The Senator noted that smoking rates have flatlined in Western Australia over the last 4 years, based on the official WA state surveys, as well as stalling nationally.

He said that the recent CSIRO report concluded that vaping assists smokers to quit. 'If we are genuine in helping people to stop smoking why don’t we encourage this option?' he asked.

Senator Georgiou described the extremely high cigarette prices in Australia as 'price gouging'. 'We seem more concerned about slugging smokers as much as we can to fatten up the government coffers. Is the government more concerned about its coffers drying up if people switch to vaping?' he asked.

He was puzzled by the ban on selling nicotine in Australia when people are able to simply import it from overseas. This is causing a substantial loss of potential income for Australian businesses.

'Do we genuinely have the interests of Australians at heart?' he asked, and finally concluded that 'Australia must move into the 21st century and give vaping a go'.

Senator Georgiou is to be congratulated for standing up for the health of Australians and resisting the obstinate opposition of Australia's health authorities and the Australian Medical Association.

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