Latest news with #HealthOrganization
ABC News
02-06-2025
- Business
- ABC News
NSW premier calls for lower tobacco excise as black market cigarette sales boom
NSW Premier Chris Minns has called on the federal government to consider lowering the tobacco excise, suggesting its current level may be contributing to the rise of illegal tobacco across the country. In March it was revealed in the federal budget the bottom line had been dealt an almost $7 billion blow in tobacco tax revenue, as black market cigarette sales boom. The treasury is forecasting $6.9 billion will be slashed between now and 2029 on the back of Australians turning to cheaper illegal tobacco or switching to vapes. "We need to have a look at how big this excise is, how it's driving illegal tobacco sales in our community," Mr Minns said. "And is it the best use of NSW Police time to be devoted to tobacco sales, when in the end the federal government's not getting the excise that they thought — they're not getting that tax that they would get from that massive increase." Cigarette prices in Australia are considered to be one of the highest in the world, according to the World Health Organization, with taxes accounting for roughly three quarters of the price. The justification for this excise, which was first introduced as a 25 per cent increase in 2010 and has increased in the years since, is reducing smoking rates. In 2023, the federal government said the excise would grow by 5 per cent annually for three years, starting that September. According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, around one quarter of people who smoked in 2024 had smoked unbranded tobacco in their lifetime. "I'm completely in support of the public health messaging, but you'd be crazy to just turn a blind eye to the proliferation of illegal tobacco sales and think to yourself, 'Isn't there a better way of allocating public money?'" Mr Minns said. In a statement, federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers acknowledged "the significant problem of illegal tobacco". "Tobacco excise is an important public health measure to encourage people to give up smoking," Mr Chalmers said. "We are working with NSW and the other states and territories when it comes to the enforcement challenge with illegal tobacco." He said the federal government had invested an additional $157 million in enforcement and compliance for tobacco in the recent budget. James Martin, a senior lecturer in criminology at Deakin University, said high taxes combined with legislation permitting other avenues for nicotine consumption including vaping, created an environment for illicit tobacco to flourish. He said it was worthwhile to question the government's taxing and spending priorities. "Police forces are stretched around the country with more pressing crime problems," Dr Martin said. "Whether that's intimate partner violence or terrorism, you name it — there's a real problem that police are facing with resource allocation as it is," he said. However he said it was difficult to know how the government could respond to the booming black market. "Because [federal Minister for Health] Mark Butler has said explicitly that any attempt to not even reverse tobacco tax, but just simply pause tobacco tax, would be raising the white flag for, you know, for big tobacco. "And I think with that kind of rhetoric, it's difficult, it's difficult to de-escalate."
CTV News
19-05-2025
- Health
- CTV News
WHO opens annual assembly as UN health agency faces ‘existential crisis' in wake of U.S. funding cuts
Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, left, delivers his statement, during the opening of the 78th World Health Assembly at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Monday, May 19, 2025. (Magali Girardin/Keystone via AP)
Al Jazeera
10-04-2025
- Health
- Al Jazeera
LIVE: Israel kills almost 30 more in Gaza as 10,000 need medical evacuation
Medical sources tell Al Jazeera that at least 29 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks across Gaza since dawn on Thursday, and there are reports of new attacks and Health Organization (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has warned of more disease and deaths due to Israel's blockade of aid entering Gaza where more than 10,000 people need medical evacuation Health Ministry says at least 50,886 Palestinians are confirmed dead and 115,875 wounded in Israel's war on Gaza. The Government Media Office updated its death toll to more than 61,700 saying thousands of people missing under the rubble are presumed least 1,139 people were killed in Israel during the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attacks and more than 200 were taken captive. Update: Date: 2m ago (04:30 GMT) Title: Trump administration seeks consent decree on Columbia over pro-Palestine protests: Report Content: As we previously reported, recent months have seen the Trump administration sanction Columbia University, including cancelling $400m in federal funding, over its alleged failure to crack down on anti-semitism on campus during pro-Palestine protests last year. Now, the Wall Street Journal reports that the Trump administration is working to force Columbia into a consent decree that would legally bind the school to follow federal guidelines on combatting antisemitism. The newspaper, citing unnamed sources familiar with the matter, reported on Thursday that the potential consent decree is part of ongoing negotiations with the university to restore federal funding. Any consent decree could last for years and would give a federal judge oversight for ensuring the school adheres to agreements on addressing antisemitism, the Journal said. Update: Date: 17m ago (04:15 GMT) Title: Jenin Brigades claim 'highly explosive' IED attack on Israel military vehicles Content: Our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic report that the Jenin Brigades – an umbrella group of Palestinians fighting against the Israeli occupation – have claimed responsibility for an improvised explosive device (IED) attack on Israeli military vehicles in the occupied West Bank. The Brigades said in a statement that a 'highly explosive device' was prepared in advance and detonated against 'enemy vehicles' at the entrance to the town of Silat al-Harithiya in Jenin. There were no initial reports of casualties. The Nablus battalion of the al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), also reported 'battles' with Israeli forces in several areas of the Old City in Nablus. We will bring you more on these reports as information emerges. Update: Date: 32m ago (04:00 GMT) Title: Editor's Choice: What to read and watch right now Content: Here are a few highlights we have published over the past day on Israel's renewed war on Gaza and related conflicts across the region: And there's plenty more here. Update: Date: 47m ago (03:45 GMT) Title: WATCH: Activists turn US embassy pond blood red in London Content: Activists poured 300 litres (79 gallons) of a blood-red coloured biodegradable dye into an ornamental pond outside the US embassy in London, to draw attention to Washington's arming of Israel amid the war on Gaza. The Greenpeace activists turned the embassy's pond into a lake of symbolic blood, using a container to dispense the dye bearing the words: 'Stop Arming Israel'. Will McCallum, Greenpeace UK's co-executive director, was among five people arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to cause criminal damage, the activist group and police said. Watch the report below: Update: Date: 1h ago (03:30 GMT) Title: Israeli military carries out another attack in Khan Younis, killing 6 Content: As we have been reporting, the Israeli military has killed at least eight people after bombing the al-Farra family home in the Sheikh Nasser area, east of Khan Younis in southern Gaza. Our Al Jazeera Arabic colleagues now report that a second attack has taken place in Khan Younis, with Israeli fighter jets bombing a home in the Katiba area in the north of the city. At least six people have been killed, including three children and two women. We will bring you more information when we have it. Update: Date: 1h ago (03:15 GMT) Title: Photos: Grim search for survivors in Gaza City's obliterated Shujayea neighbourhood Content: Update: Date: 1h ago (03:00 GMT) Title: Death toll rises following Israeli strike on home in Khan Younis Content: Earlier, we reported that a woman had been killed and several people wounded in an Israeli strike on a house in the Sheikh Nasser area, east of Khan Younis, in southern Gaza. The Quds News Network and the Palestinian Information Center now report that at least eight people have been killed in that strike, which hit the al-Farra family home. We will bring you further updates when we have them. Breaking | 8 Palestinians killed and others injured in an Israeli airstrike targeting the Al-Farra family's home in Khan Younis. — Quds News Network (@QudsNen) April 11, 2025 Update: Date: 1h ago (02:45 GMT) Title: Trump nominates new US special envoy for combatting anti-Semitism Content: US President Donald Trump has named Yehuda Kaploun to be his 'Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism'. 'Yehuda is a successful businessman, and staunch advocate for the Jewish Faith and the Rights of his people to live and worship free from persecution,' Trump wrote on Truth Social. 'With Anti-Semitism dangerously on the rise, Yehuda will be the strongest Representative for Americans and Jews across the Globe, and promote PEACE. Congratulations Yehuda!' he added. Update: Date: 2h ago (02:30 GMT) Title: LISTEN: Gaza City bombardment Content: Israeli strikes across the Gaza Strip have killed at least 29 Palestinians since dawn on Thursday with 13 killed in Gaza City in the north of the territory. Civil defence rescue teams are searching for victims buried under the rubble of destroyed houses. Israel's military has now killed more than 1,500 Palestinians across Gaza since breaking the ceasefire last month. Listen to the full report: Update: Date: 2h ago (02:15 GMT) Title: Houthi leader says group will 'escalate' attacks following US aggression Content: Abdel-Malik al-Houthi, the leader of the Yemen-based group, said in a televised speech on Thursday that ongoing US attacks on the country only 'contributes to the further development of military capabilities'. 'The American enemy will not be able to destroy our military capabilities, our support for Gaza, or prevent us from targeting Israeli maritime navigation. Rather, we will escalate further, and we are constantly developing our military capabilities,' he said. Responding to al-Houthi's speech, Ali al-Qahoum, a member of the Houthi's political bureau, also condemned 'Trump's foolish aggression against Yemen'. 'The Yemeni Armed Forces have many, many surprises in store, as well as growing military capabilities, developing military industries, and engaging in a battle that we do not fear at all,' al-Qahoum said in a post on X.
