Limiting tobacco sales could cut Australian retailers by 82%

Summarised from 2 outlets · Updated 4 Nov, 18:21 · Archive

Researchers modelled restrictions on where cigarettes could be sold, finding limiting sales to supermarkets could reduce licensed retailers by 82 per cent.

Researchers at Notre Dame Australia and Cancer Council WA have modelled the effects of restricting where cigarettes could be sold. Limiting sales to supermarkets could cut the number of licensed retailers by 82 per cent, while prohibiting sales within a walkable 500 metres of schools could lower retailer numbers by 41 per cent. Stopping petrol stations from selling tobacco could reduce retailers by more than a quarter.

The modelling considered where tobacco could be sold, the types of retailers permitted to sell it, and proximity to schools. Results from the study were published on Wednesday in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health. Currently Australia has an estimated 40,000 tobacco retailers spread across the country, with Western Australia having about 100 licensed retailers per 100,000 head of population. Bottle shops, petrol stations and roadhouses are the most common retailers.

A second study by Cancer Council WA researcher Natalia Lizama surveyed over 1,100 people and found 70 per cent of Western Australian residents thought tobacco should be less available or not available at all. Eighty-one per cent believed it should not be sold within 500 metres of a school. The researchers noted that with national smoking rates at record lows of about 5.6 per cent of the population, reducing the number of cigarette retailers was the next logical step to reduce tobacco-related harms. Tobacco use remains the leading cause of preventable death in Australia in 2024.

How it is being reported

• Limiting cigarette sales to supermarkets and away from schools could mean major reduction in smokingWA researchers have modelled what would happen if retailers were cut back, and one option would wipe out more than 80 per cent of tobacco sellers.Perth Now · 4 Nov, 18:00
• Limiting cigarette sales to supermarkets and away from schools could mean major reduction in smokingWA researchers have modelled what would happen if retailers were cut back, and one option would wipe out more than 80 per cent of tobacco sellers.The West Australian · 4 Nov, 18:00

In this story: Notre Dame Australia · Cancer Council WA · Western Australia · Australia · Natalia Lizama

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