30 September 2010 Dr Roscoe Taylor Director of Public Health Tobacco Control Public and Environmental Health Services Department of Health and Human Services GPO Box 125 Hobart TAS 7001 By email:
[email protected] Re: Woolworths response to Building on our Strengths Discussion Paper Woolworths welcomes the opportunity to provide comments in response to proposed legislative changes to the Public Health Act set out in the Discussion Paper Building our Strengths. As a leading Australian retailer, Woolworths has 73 stores in Tasmania including 29 Woolworths supermarkets, 3 BIG W department stores, 5 Dick Smith Electronics outlets, 20 BWS liquor outlets and 16 Woolworths Petrol sites. Woolworths sells tobacco products in all its stores in Tasmania with the exception of Dick Smith Electronics outlets. Woolworths fully accepts and appreciates the responsibility of selling tobacco products and accepts it is quite unlike selling fresh food and other everyday needs products. Woolworths is therefore committed to working with the Tasmanian Government to ensure that the Government can achieve its tobacco control and overall preventative health policy objectives. Woolworths also acknowledges the ambitious objectives the Tasmanian Government has set out for reduction of smoking in its Tobacco Control Plan as part of the Tasmania Together project. Woolworths’ specific comments relate to Proposal Nine in the Discussion Paper – being the proposal to ban or restrict specialist tobacconists’ displays and/or phase out specialist tobacconists. As the Department would be aware, all Woolworths outlets in Tasmania selling tobacco products will be subject to a complete display ban from 2 February 2011. Woolworths therefore strongly supports Option One being the proposal to extend this total tobacco display ban so that it will also apply to specialist tobacconists.