I’m a 73 year old Australian. When I was in my twenties I was very much in the minority as a non smoker, I was the odd one out at social occasions when someone pulled out their cigarettes and offered them about. Cigarettes weren’t expensive, the brand my husband smoked was 40 cents a packet back then. Then laws started gradually changing. Nowadays smokers are the odd ones out, skulking outside to get their nicotine hit. Personally I think the demise of smoking is a good thing, my husband passed away at 60 from cancer after smoking since he was 14. If banning advertising, high taxes, social exclusion, plain packets and hiding cigarettes for sale behind doors can save lives then all those things making it harder to smoke are worth it.
Allowing the government to control what you think should give rise to your being condemned. Smokers are good law abiding citizen's, all that I have met are really decent respectful people. More than I can say for the brown shirts who join the mob mentality with those who not only join in on the derogatory narratives but cheer from the sidelines each time the government abuses this group in society. How disgraceful.
Me too. I’m 72 and was a primary school teacher. When I first started in the 70s, as a non-smoker it was always an ordeal to go into the staff room at lunch time. The air in the whole room would be blue with smoke. I was very glad when the laws changed to stop smoking in schools.
I watched this guy a few years ago, and I asked him how his accent was so Aussie when he was German, he replied back that his teacher teaching him English was Australian 😃👌
Years ago, Australian teachers weren't considered for teaching English because of their accent. Though that varies depending where in Australia you come from. My son is a TESL teacher in NZ and his fellow teachers come from a wide range of countries, not only the common English speaking ones.
8:08 I lived in Suisse and got used to people NOT talking or making eye contact - then went back home to see my grandparents. First day back, I buy groceries. The teller asks me how I am (which jolted me), I reply with the generic & polite “good”, followed by the perfunctory: “and you?”, expecting the same answer. Nope. She starts telling me how her kids have been sick, she hasn’t had sleep, is exhausted etc. I started smiling, because I was like… ahh, friendly open interaction. I REMEMBER this!!
When I was a junior nurse (Australia) one of my duties was to go round the ward and empty and clean the patients ashtrays. We also had to put up the signs to not smoke next to the patients who were on oxygen therapy. Most of the nurses and doctors smoked. This was in the 1980's. The smoking rate has reduced a lot now. I think the stats show that in Australia 2022-23, 70% of people who had ever smoked had quit. But vaping rates are sky rocketing.
It's hard to understand why so many Germans smoke because you'd think they'd be very conscious of being healthy. Cigarette ads are banned in Australia and NZ.
I thought being under a communist regime in ww2 I thought they would dictate that you couldn’t smoke. I know a lot of Aussies war people smoked as they believed the British advertising around smokes being healthy.
I have been back in Australia now for 18 months after spending 10 years in Germany. Two very different cultures. I found smoking in Germany very widespread compared to Australia, especially around food venues. Cigarettes were available everywhere, even vending machines. I also found Germans to be very consumerist orientated. Every activity needed all the the right clothing/gear or it was not possible,unlike Australians who say F÷@k it let's just do it. Beurocracy was a big difference in Germany. Everything was long winded and took forever. As for weather I found the long and short daylight hours throughout the seasons hard. I don't miss winter there even though I live back in Tasmania,Australia's "cold" state. On the whole I don't regret my time in Germany I learnt a lot but it's nice to be home.
Smoking by my family and friends and the areas I live in and travel to are pretty well smoke-free these days which is fantastic. I do remember from the 70s having to travel on trains and buses that were full of smoke. It was revolting
I remember flying when smoking was optional on all flights, and it wasn’t until the late 80’s that they brought in smokers/non smokers sections, which was literally pointless. It was pretty much the most disgusting thing you could sit through for hours on end, they were pretty much the only times I have ever suffered from any type of travel sickness. And since we lived in New Zealand, pretty much EVERY flight was long haul, barring Aus and pacific Islands.
Yes the general shop chit chat is real. I live 20 mins from Sydney CBD and while it is not the most busy town, it’s still with constant people come and go, doing errands and shopping. Yet people love to make conversation with bartender, barista, shop cashier, barber, etc about anything and everything from their dogs to the latest local gossip. 😅😅😅
Very interesting, the UK is 10 years behind Oz however Europe is 20 years behind in reducing Smoking, reducing Smoking has massive benefits in Health and Social relationships, Oz has also started reducing Vapes
Smoking adds have been banned for over 30 years! We are in the process of banning gambling adds. Outdoor smoking in a non designated area has been banned for about 15 years and indoors in public places has been banned about 25 years. Statistically you would most likely be of lower socioeconomic status and very low education if you smoke so it holds a negative stigma that helps lower use.
In the main studio of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, in Sydney, in a line on the wall just near the main door, is a line of photos of ex staff. All were smokers, and all died of cancer around the age of 60. It was very sobering. It was such a fun place to work, no one left unless they had to.
I remember watching tv with my cousin who is 7 years younger than me. The show was set in the 90s. My cousin was aghast that people were smoking in a bar. I had to explain that I remember people smoking in the pub in the mid 2000's
Aussie and lived in the UK for a bit. To many differences to name. Went back so I still love it there. Lived in Glasgow for a bit and loved it. Go Sauchiehall St😂 Smoking was banned in malls in the 90s. Best thing they did. Hated going into the shops with people smoking. I am a non smoker. I randomly talk to people in the shops. Did it at the bottle o today😂
@@kerryhubber6049 Not really - It became a joke between tobacconists and customers. 'Can I have the pack that says ciggies harm my unborn baby - Im a dude so those ones will be ok.' and things like that. And the tobacco most people buy these days comes in normal old school packaging as black market ciggies are from overseas.
When that happened it became exciting which one we got. Never deterred probably because Bryan they used was actually AIDS victim not ciggys, stupid advertisers use same person once in 70s then decades later for ciggy packets and thought we would not notice😂
I'm still driving a 2003 Lancer that I bought in 2009. It's been fully paid off for over a decade and keeps chugging along for about $1000 - $1500 in maintenance each year. I might be a bit on the stingier side, though.
Good on ya. Madness to invest in an expensive depreciating asset. Especially when Australia has such cheap second hand cars. I have a 2008 Ford Focus. It's at just over 170,000 km. Plenty of miles left on it. Runs perfectly. I don't need anything else and my house is paid off.
I’m 73 and an X smoker in WA, when I was young all my mates smoked but now very few smoke. Young people today generally don’t. Vapping is banned in WA.
The humidity comment at the end! Thats something that surprised me about the UK when I was last there in the middle of Summer. It might only have peaked at 33°c but it just felt so humid and muggy. Public spaces and homes didnt have AC or ceiling fans so no air movement. The grass was green, so I guess it was the evapotranspiration(?) from all the green leaves when walking in parks and gardens and fields made me sweat after minimal physical effort. In Adelaide, our summers are usually midly hot but very dry. Being near the coast though theres also usually a cool late afternoon breeze as the sunsets. Hang your washing out in the middle of the day and it will be dry before the next load finishes it's 30min quick cycle in the machine 😂
I just come back from 3 months in Europe and it was horrible sitting outside having a meal and people were smoking everywhere. I come from New Zealand and we have laws to stop smoking in lots of places. Best thing the government ever did and yes I used to smoke. Besides that Europe is lovely.
Australia was just like that too Decades ago, but through Campaigns, Smoking Laws (where you could and couldn’t Smoke), and higher Taxing, we’ve changed completely. Back in the early 80s my first part-time Job was in a Toy Store, and we had big a Cigarette and Cigar section overhead on the Front Counter. My Mum used to send me to the Corner Store, at the age of 11 to buy Cigarettes and Milk, or Bread, and the Corner Shop didn’t blink an eye. A very different time, and things clearly need to change. And it worked, and now Vaping has replaced them, and we’re back to square one with that. Also I heard that Gen Z now consider Cigarette Smoking to be like a Vintage thing and rates are rising in that demographic. Crazy business.
My Mum used to send me to the deli for smokes, paper and milk. It was put on her account which she paid weekly. I started smoking as a teen so I booked up one packet a week in her account. We'd smoke them on the back of the bus to and from school. The driver would get angry not because we were smoking as there were ashtrays on the bus, but because we were underage! I'm glad the smoking kills campaign is so broad and constant. It's a deadly addiction.
People smoke but you cannot smoke in or near a public building cafe shopping centre whatever. There is a lot less smokers though. I have been to Europe and was shocked to see someone smoking right under a no smoking sign. You can be fined heavily and a cafe or owner can lose their licence.
As a Australian, I remember well, the first time I went to Paris. Could not believe that the streets were littered with cigarettes butts. What a turn off.
The restrictions on smoking were a great thing. We smokers didn't think so at the beginning, but it helped so many people give it up. I guess, as more and more people dropped it, it became a bit lonely being the only one going outside for a smoke. Now, cigarettes are really expensive, I'm told, which again might deter people from starting. And the place is so much cleaner.
Honestly it wasn't until i was almost an adult (25 now) that I even met people who were smokers, and usually they were born in other countries and developed the habit over there. My whole extended family maybe has 1 smoker and my family is large. so crazy how normalised it is everywhere else, also vaping is banned here in SA
I’m 61 In my lifetime smoking has shifted from upbiquitous in Australia to pretty rare. I have always hated smoking and When I was a young adult it meant I rarely went to pubs etc because the smoke would get into all your clothes and hair and I just hated it. I I’m sure nowadays like the guy said it’s to do with the cost but I remember the change happened before the price hikes. It was driven by some very clever Public Health campaigns driven by Labor governments. You can’t really have campaigns like that now because back in the day everyone watched the same 4 TV channels and listened to the same 1 or 2 local radio stations. This made it easy to get a message out. Now with Social Media it’s just about impossible to get a message out to everyone consistently. We’re now tackling Vaping. We have laws that vape liquid containing nicotine cannot be imported but the pushers got around that by taking the word ‘nicotine’ out of the ingredients label even though it was in the product. So just recently a bill was passed banning all imported vape products. Will be interesting to see how that goes. It’s scary to see how easily people just adopt the next stupidly bad for your health craze and shows why we really do need Public Health measures to protect people particularly young tweens and teens from themselves. And yes coffee in most of the world is shit. BTW I did a lot of research into the health effects of coffee. Turns out it doesn’t do anything bad to your body so enjoy your next sip!
I saw a guy smoking in the street yesterday in Sydney. It looked so STRANGE. Smoking in Australia is totally unacceptable. And we have great coffee. And we start the day early 🎉
I agree that there is a group of people that can't afford the habit and are unable to quit. I have a lot of compassion for them. And would support measures to support those people .... Yet we have stopped so many people taking it up. It is something that people know is priced out of their league and accept that they shouldn't push ciggies on their family and friends.
I am 70 years old from the UK originally and been in Oz since the 80s. About 5 years ago I got fined for jaywalking at the lights in Sydney (I stepped off the pavement momentarily before the green man appeared although the traffic lights were red and all the cars had stopped). The cop gave me a lecture, to which I said "I had no idea jaywalking was a thing in Australia!" I was gobsmacked that I had been here so long and NEVER come across it before!
I use to mix tobacco with my weed because everyone else did. I didn’t smoke cigs but l smoked tobacco with my weed to spread it out more. When the prices kept going up l just decided to smoke weed just by itself. Best decision. There’s no harshness anymore and l don’t cough up phlegm.
Australia said its' 'graphic warnings' (world first) on cigarette packets were the reason smoking dropped a little down here but mainly it was the massive excise (tax) increases every few months. It's now $2 or more per cigarette & Aussies are buying illegal ones because the government profiting about 95% of the price is ridiculous. And illegal ones fund criminals or terrorist organisations.... Policies that might sound good (like alcohol prohibition in the US a century ago) don't always end well...
Filling your car up with petrol funds terrorist states too. People still do that and don't care. The government even does it. When the choice is either overpay due to constant government theft or pay a fair price - Most will pick to go with which of the two criminals is giving the better deal. The answer to it all is to provide better value legally - but our politicians are simply too dim to work that out.
They started to increase the price of cigarettes in the mid-90s. The price doubled, but was laughingly cheap compared to current prices. They kept increasing teh tax on cigarettes and it continues to grow. Yes, young people in particular were buying vapes to the point where they are now only available legally at chemists. Lots of nicotene products - patches (don't see them much now), lozenges, sprays and vapes so there are still lots of addicts, just not smoke. Jaywalking is illegal but rarely prosecuted.
Well, I don't know where he went in Australia but I haven't seen a cigarette or an ashtray in Oz in over fifteen years. I haven't even smelled cigarette smoke. It's not allowed in public.
That's BS, you can still smoke in your own backyard, on the streets, and people stop smoking because they can't afford it. The government makes heaps of money out of it, filling their own pockets..
@@Lilygirl283 Yes, you can smoke in your own backyard, it's not a public place. But oh no. YOU CANNOT SMOKE IN THE STREETS. TRY IT AND SEE WHAT HAPPENS.
Legislation banning smoking in offices and many other places was enacted in the late 1980's. Also, smokes were then secured behind non-transparent doors in plain packaging. The smoking-related diseases and health impacts of smoking resulted in many public campaigns about serious health and longevity and there have been a number of public health programs.
Hey Mat, ~3.5 million people smoke in Australia, the government reaps $8 Billion dollars a year from smokers, I'm a smoker but, feel very excluded. Sorry, rant finished, love your your work. 👍
Hardly anyone smokes in Australia but the young people have begun vaping. We have had a very big anti smoking campaign for years and smoking is not allowed anywhere indoors. Ive just come back from Europe and was shocked at all the people smoking.
How is the smell indoors in Europe? I can smell and see the tar on the walls just with your words. As a non smoker I really dread wanting to ever go overseas as my asthma would go berserk. I mum was smoker and the smell was horrific. She could never smell it though. Not to mention now that the damage has been done she has multiple mental illness issues.
I currently live in Sydney Australia. In the last 30years there has definitely been a decline in the number of smokers. I work in an office of 30 employees and we only have one smoker. Every time I travel overseas I definitely notice the smell of cigarettes when I walk down the street.
On the car subject australia and NZ have one the the largest selcetion of car brands in the world so its a very diverse range. The euro brands are on the rise you see a decent amout of mercedes, bmw, volkswagon group like audi, skoda,vw but there is a large sector of economy brands like kia,hyundai etc..
Back in 1972 my doctor told my mother and me to take up smoking as it was good for you he always had a smoke in his mouth i got stitches in my head foot stomach in 3 different accidents he had a smoke in his mouth every time how times have changed in Australia
. On the topic of cars, it’s fair to say that at least in Melbourne the most common cars are the big and expensive four wheel drives that cost around as much here as the cars that he mentioned. Most common cars though are the normal newish’ Japanese, Korean etc. sedans. In terms of weather, Australia varies hugely depending on where you are. Tasmania is cool most of the year but by the time you get as far north as Brisbane it tends to be very humid and hot in summer. Keep in mind though that there is still a long way to go before you reach the very top of Australia.
In my 80 years I've lived in 20 countries. I owned an entertainment company which produced Casino style shows worldwide. You'd be surprised at the changes I've seen. So much so I recently wrote a book called From the Top.
@@Lilygirl283That’s NOT true, smoking has declined every year in Australia. Compared to the past when the smoking rate was very high and people died rate from lung cancer and other related smoking conditions. Whereas now smoking is down to just 9%, compared to 20% in 1991 and much much higher in the 60’s before they knew the harm smoking caused to your health.
@@bellabana You are going off dodgy government propaganda stats I think. People buying blackmarket tobacco won't show in them. There are people who on paper would look like that have never purchased ciggies but are long term heavy smokers who refuse to have their money effectively stolen by the government.
His English accent sounds quite Australian. Yep, smoking amongst all age groups is noticeably common in Europe- The first thing I smelt when I arrived at Vienna airport was the smell of cigarette smoke and then I remembered what everybody had told me about it - the rates of smoking in Europe very noticeable to us Australians.
My first visit to Austria in 2003 I was shocked by how many people smoked. I felt like I wanted to take my lungs out of my body and rinse them out. It was awful.
G'day Mate! Smoking has declined dramatically in recent years ( thankfully) but to think that vaping will take over here is wrong too. As of July 1st 2024 all vaping products are considered therapeutic goods and as such can only be sold by pharmacies.... The thing there is that most pharmacies are refusing to stock the stuff. Also until October 1st everyone needs a prescription to purchase those products. After that date only under 18's will need a prescription... Cheers!
Yes, and we are in the top three counties in the world for life expectancy. Saving the health system billions of dollars each year. Go anywhere and you do not have to breathe second hand smoke.
I worked on Australian government policies to reduce smoking. I’m so glad that those policies are working. I did the updates on the research, the toll tobacco use takes on health is horrific, and totally avoidable. It would be great if we could reduce it to zero.
Vaping in Australia is a huge problem, especially amongst teens. My daughter attends a Catholic school, and six out of every ten kids were vaping. They were so addicted. Now, the laws have changed. idk if they are still getting them somehow. I still know a lot of adults that still smoke. They just don't do it so much publicly as its been ostracised.
Organized crime thanks you for your hard work in creating a new multibillion dollar industry for them where not one cent of the money now goes to hospitals/revenue. Well done. Muppet.
Vaping is in the process of being via Doctor prescription only to assist in smoking cessation. Vaping was marketed to children with colourful packaging and lollie like flavouring. To prevent a whole new generation of addiction, the policy changes were fairly rapid
@@maxineb9598 You are right - A common joke here is that people with those cars keep the tools in the cab of the vehicle instead of the back. They do make sense for people with farms etc. But only massive bogan wankers own and drive them in the cities.
Yeah, the luxury car tax and proximity to Asia mean that most of the Japanese, Korean, and increasingly Chinese, cars are all way more affordable. And, hilariously, that a lot of crappy Euro-boxes (the cheapest Renaults, Fiats, Alfas, Peugeots) are considered more exotic simply because they're European.
I smoked in my 20s but stopped in my 30s having had my first asthma attack ..i am so glad the govt clamped down on it for my own sake but it has also been great for people who work in hospitality or music . They no longer have their lives shortened by working in smoke for hours
Please please please make your own Reverse Culture Shock video about visiting the UK after living so long in Malaysia. I would be very interested. With the smoking, there was a big ‘American political scandal (in the 1970s) where Tobacco Companies were forced to testify to Congress that they knew cigarettes caused lung cancer, a very large cause of mortality, and they had known and suppressed scientific data on that for decades. During the 1980s the issue of second hand smoke causing lung cancer reared its head. The Australian response - it’s a long time ago, but there might have been a court case - was to make this a Work Health and Safety WHS issue. Workers complained about it being unsafe to breathe cigarette smoke at work. Smoking indoors at hospitals, schools and most businesses was banned and complied with quickly. There was a decade long fight over smoking in hospitality venues, with arguments that for smokers, smoking was inextricably tied with eating and drinking, and banning smoking in those venues would put most of them out of business. However resteraunts (and airplanes) were forced to introduce non smoking and smoking areas…which in practise were in the same room or connected rooms. But in the meantime smokers had voluntarily stopped smoking indoors at home and in the car if there were children present. Prior to the first workplace indoor smoking bans adults were socially and legally fully entitled to hotbox their children in homes and - most horribly - in cars, even us children with asthma. Asthmatics were expected to use their rescue inhalers rather than deprive an adult of a cigarette. Everyone understood how addictive they were. Resteraunts finally caved to no smoking indoors, but pubs held out longer, eventually settling on a Beer Garden compromise. For the first time Australian pubs prioritised outdoor seating areas out of nowhere, where patrons could both smoke and drink. The day after cigarettes were banned inside pubs and nightclubs was a huge shock to everyone. I walked into a pub and it REEKED of piss. The cigarette smoke had been covering up how FILTHY drinking venues got from urine splashes everywhere in the men’s bathrooms. There was this HUGE dip in pub attendance for months before pubs and clubs all acquired more staff to keep the toilets under control. Next came the smoke break problem… not that smokers took them, but that to cut how long the smoke break was they smoked just outside the doors. Can you imagine being on the footpath outside a series of skyscrapers, outside a hospital, a shopping mall, any large building? Dozens of smokers all in one place where people had to pass. The air for so many metres around the doors became so saturated with smoke you may as well be in a closed up car with smokers. I forget whether a law was passed, or companies just caved to pressure, but smokers were forced further and further away from buildings to smoke. This period of smoking culture started coinciding with the results of five other pressures. Firstly the government banned tobacco advertising on TV, radio, print media and eventually from the loophole of inside sports venues, such as the sidings of footy grounds (which were televised). Secondly they started up the QUIT smoking campaign, which had a multiple of prongs, but noticeably the Shock Value anti-smoking ads that were similar to our shock value safe-driving ads graphically showing dead, damaged and disabled people on issues such as seatbelts, speed limits, and driving on alcohol. Thirdly after a decade or so of industry fighting, plain cigarette packaging was imposed, soon followed by large repulsive gory pictures on the box of every tobacco product accompanied by slogans such as ‘Smoking Harms Your Unborn Baby’. These enforced packaging changes really put off a lot of new and social smokers. Fourthly the price rises started and escalated. In 1990 the Australian government stopped subsidising tobacco farmers. I’m not sure on the tax timeline, but for at least 2 or 3 decades taxes on cigarettes and other tobacco products (and alcohol to a lesser extent) started in and just kept rising. 30 years ago if the tax rate we have today was slapped on cigarettes back then there would have been riots in the streets and demonstrations everywhere. In the 1970s about 37% of Australians smoked. In 2018 it was down to 12.5%. Now we see old shows with people chain smoking in hospital, detectives smoking at desks, parents smoking around children, and were shocked to our toes. Our culture has changed radically during my lifetime, and this is not the only huge change. Sun safety. Pervasive Sexual Harassment turning into consent culture. Out and proud homophobia turned around to LGBT+ acceptance in major areas, although not everywhere. Not only Same Sex marriage, but on government forms and hospital admissions in Victoria you are asked your pronouns, and there are several gender options, including Intersex and Non Binary.
I grew up in NZ and now live in Australia. We were buying cigarettes in the late 2000s as 18-20 year olds. I think it was around NZ$15-20 for a pack but it was already going up every year. Here in Australia it's similar, and I think the last time I bought a pack a few years ago it was over AU$30. Probably even more now. Never been a full time smoker - just when drinking while young and dumb. I might have 1 in Asia because it's cheap and I'm on holiday, but there is absolutely no way I can justify buying them here, now. You can complain all you want, but if it makes you stop, that's only a good thing.
When I started smoking, at the age of 15 [52 years ago], a pack of 20 marlboro was about 40cents. Today, the same pack of Marlboro is 51 dollars. Needless to say, I stopped smoking a long time ago.
Australians are less materialistic, we don’t care if you drive a bmw or ride a bicycle! If we like you then we like you. We do enjoy vapes….more than we should.
@robertoNcognito Not really - BMWs don't last well in Australian conditions and are very unreliable compared to Japanese cars which do last in Australian conditions. More people just know you're someone who knows nothing about cars and don't drive more than to the local shops if you own a BMW in Australia. I have never based my decisions on who I will talk to based on their car. That would be both shallow and retarded.
I smoked for 52 years i gave up 16 months ago i know one thing is Australia is the best country in the world we go on holidays just to confirm we live in the best country
I'm an Australian. It is quite rare now to see a smoker in Australia. You do see the occasional person smoking out in the open - it's not allowed indoors in public places. I personally think the way smokers have been treated in Australia is draconian. Ban smoking in buildings is fine and good. But making cigarettes ultra expensive is cruel - cruel because most smokers are not wealthy people and are smoking to keep themselves sane. Australians generally don't go in for ostentation much - expensive cars are a rarity. Lots of BMW's and Audi's, but not mega expensive ones. It's not uncommon for rich people to have very ordinary cars.
In Australia, fax machines are still used by medical offices. I once had to scan and then email a referral. The admin staff then printed my pdf and then faxed the paper copy to the doctor. The image had degraded to be unreadable, so the doctor never called to make the appointment. Made me so angry, when I finally called to follow it up.
I have just returned to oz after 21 years away. When I left there was almost no black market tobacco/ cigarettes. Now the government has raised the taxes so much that we now have a thriving black market of cigarettes. In the end people will still smoke and I suspect the loss of tax revenue is going to bite hard in the future.
@@robert3987is that legal? I didn’t think the states had the authority to apply taxes? I vaguely remember that the states lost a court case years ago and the federal government had to replace state based tax on cigarettes?
Cigarettes are so expensive now in Australia that we have a growing black market for cheap imports. A cheap 20 pack will cost $32, but some places now do the sneaky and will offer black market packs for $16.
When I took up smoking at 16, a packet of 25's was $2.10 in 1988 and there was tobacco advertising everywhere. Now a packet of 25's is about $50+ and smoking is a very anti-social activity, heavily frowned upon. I've vaped for the last decade but that's been severely restricted too, you can only buy a very limited variety of vaping products from pharmacies now as a quit smoking aid. Time to just quit nicotine I guess.
My mother in law now in her late 90s, took up smoking in her mid twenties because her doctor prescribed it to her to help with the stress of her alcoholic violent husband. 😳
@@rickute1458 People can afford a house but not always where they want to live. Also, a problem with that is that there are not enough provincial cities in the inner parts of the country which have work and other activities for people as in other first world countries .The population needs to be spread out more than clustered around the main cities.
Plenty of people still smoke in Australia , most people get their cigarettes on the flagrantly open black market ........ the place I get them is across the road from the local magistrates ffs , and I've seen the police in there buying smokes
@@Lilygirl283 Cops have to live on a tight budget these days too. They understand that the government created the blackmarket themselves via bad policy.
When I stopped smoking in Australia 22 years ago, I was smoking 40 a day of a particular brand - and enjoying it. It was expensive but not unmanageably so. Today those same cigarettes would cost me $490 a week which I certainly couldn't afford. I, and my wallet, are pleased I stopped.
In Australia there is no cigarette advertising. No Cigarettes can be displayed in shops. Smoking in most public places is prohibited in Australia. From 1 October 2024, people 18 years or over will be able to purchase nicotine vapes directly from a pharmacy without a prescription, but only from a pharmacy.
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Cigarettes cost over $50 per pack in Australia and vapes have just been completely banned. Smoking is banned in almost all public places including anywhere outdoors where food or drinks are served, beaches, bus stops etc. less than 8% of Australians smoke
In Australia if you vape in public the police will ask you to show them the proof of purchasing the nicotine juice together with the prescription. There is a huge black market for cigarettes. Many people hide while smoking them.
Lots of Aussies still smoke - You don't see it as much here cause its generally done at home due to it being banned in public places. The stats are also inaccurate as most buy tobacco on the black market because of unjust draconian taxes on legal tobacco.
the smoking thing just reminds me of how Authoritarian Australia has become, when I was young(49) many things that are now seen as bad or not so socially acceptable are far more restricted, Smoking, Dirt bike riding with no licence or rego was once normal, 4wding was cheap and easy now its expensive and hard to access, anything around firearms is just ridiculous, camping/bush walking was free and easy now national parks are often pay to enter and even permits for walks, so many more things.
As a teen in Australia in the 90s we could go to our local milk bar and put our smokes on tab (as in pay later) but we were all under age so we never payed and the store owner couldn't do anything because they sold to underage. its only now as an adult I realise what chaos and destruction I and others must have caused this owner and his family. I wish I could take back what I was a part of
My ciggies are $80 for 40, two days! About ten years ago they changed the taste of cigarettes but we kept going, then they started taxing us out of the habit. We kept going. It wasn't until my lungs collapsed that I stopped. Maybe should have done it earlier, it was easy and now I've got money:) I bought a great electric dirt bike but I'm too fucked to ride it. How frustratement.
Thanks Matt. I smoke. It pisses me off how freakin' greedy the Aust' Govt' has been with their tobacco taxes. Small wonder the Black market is pushing chop-chop and cheap imported tailor made smokes. I'm not disregarding the health aspect, nor the right fullness of a tax. I live in Canberra. We are lucky here. 🌿🌿🇦🇺😵💫👍
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I’m a 73 year old Australian. When I was in my twenties I was very much in the minority as a non smoker, I was the odd one out at social occasions when someone pulled out their cigarettes and offered them about. Cigarettes weren’t expensive, the brand my husband smoked was 40 cents a packet back then. Then laws started gradually changing. Nowadays smokers are the odd ones out, skulking outside to get their nicotine hit. Personally I think the demise of smoking is a good thing, my husband passed away at 60 from cancer after smoking since he was 14. If banning advertising, high taxes, social exclusion, plain packets and hiding cigarettes for sale behind doors can save lives then all those things making it harder to smoke are worth it.
Allowing the government to control what you think should give rise to your being condemned. Smokers are good law abiding citizen's, all that I have met are really decent respectful people. More than I can say for the brown shirts who join the mob mentality with those who not only join in on the derogatory narratives but cheer from the sidelines each time the government abuses this group in society. How disgraceful.
Me too. I’m 72 and was a primary school teacher. When I first started in the 70s, as a non-smoker it was always an ordeal to go into the staff room at lunch time. The air in the whole room would be blue with smoke. I was very glad when the laws changed to stop smoking in schools.
Sorry for your loss. I agree, anything that stops young people smoking is a good thing.
Smokers were always a minority, just being an offensive and insistent habit it always seemed more.
Me to 69 same experience in NZ. What I notice most is how much older my smoking peers look at my age.
I used to smoke and now wish I'd never started or quit much sooner. Smoking is just slow and expensive suicide .
I watched this guy a few years ago, and I asked him how his accent was so Aussie when he was German, he replied back that his teacher teaching him English was Australian 😃👌
Years ago, Australian teachers weren't considered for teaching English because of their accent. Though that varies depending where in Australia you come from.
My son is a TESL teacher in NZ and his fellow teachers come from a wide range of countries, not only the common English speaking ones.
Guy sounds German to me
I definitely picked up on quite an Aussie accent at times and German at others. It was quite interesting to hear his accent slide between the two.
There are no ads for cigarettes in Oz and you have to ask for them in the shops because they're not on display anywhere.
and the cheapest pack costs about an hours pay.
@@jirhoudmore than
Same in NZ.
@@jirhoudwish I had your job, it’s almost 2 hours pay for me.
8:08 I lived in Suisse and got used to people NOT talking or making eye contact - then went back home to see my grandparents. First day back, I buy groceries. The teller asks me how I am (which jolted me), I reply with the generic & polite “good”, followed by the perfunctory: “and you?”, expecting the same answer. Nope. She starts telling me how her kids have been sick, she hasn’t had sleep, is exhausted etc. I started smiling, because I was like… ahh, friendly open interaction. I REMEMBER this!!
When I was a junior nurse (Australia) one of my duties was to go round the ward and empty and clean the patients ashtrays. We also had to put up the signs to not smoke next to the patients who were on oxygen therapy. Most of the nurses and doctors smoked. This was in the 1980's. The smoking rate has reduced a lot now. I think the stats show that in Australia 2022-23, 70% of people who had ever smoked had quit. But vaping rates are sky rocketing.
It's hard to understand why so many Germans smoke because you'd think they'd be very conscious of being healthy. Cigarette ads are banned in Australia and NZ.
Same here ; Trained in the mid 70s, and don’t forget emptying the sputum mugs that all the smokers had
I thought being under a communist regime in ww2 I thought they would dictate that you couldn’t smoke. I know a lot of Aussies war people smoked as they believed the British advertising around smokes being healthy.
I have been back in Australia now for 18 months after spending 10 years in Germany. Two very different cultures. I found smoking in Germany very widespread compared to Australia, especially around food venues. Cigarettes were available everywhere, even vending machines. I also found Germans to be very consumerist orientated. Every activity needed all the the right clothing/gear or it was not possible,unlike Australians who say F÷@k it let's just do it. Beurocracy was a big difference in Germany. Everything was long winded and took forever. As for weather I found the long and short daylight hours throughout the seasons hard. I don't miss winter there even though I live back in Tasmania,Australia's "cold" state. On the whole I don't regret my time in Germany I learnt a lot but it's nice to be home.
Smoking by my family and friends and the areas I live in and travel to are pretty well smoke-free these days which is fantastic. I do remember from the 70s having to travel on trains and buses that were full of smoke. It was revolting
I remember flying when smoking was optional on all flights, and it wasn’t until the late 80’s that they brought in smokers/non smokers sections, which was literally pointless. It was pretty much the most disgusting thing you could sit through for hours on end, they were pretty much the only times I have ever suffered from any type of travel sickness. And since we lived in New Zealand, pretty much EVERY flight was long haul, barring Aus and pacific Islands.
Yes, this guys videos are excellent, he left Germany to rediscover himself and Australia changed him for good! Come back! 🙋
Yes the general shop chit chat is real. I live 20 mins from Sydney CBD and while it is not the most busy town, it’s still with constant people come and go, doing errands and shopping. Yet people love to make conversation with bartender, barista, shop cashier, barber, etc about anything and everything from their dogs to the latest local gossip. 😅😅😅
I live inside the Sydney CBD and most people don't chit chat, what a difference 20 minutes makes!
Very interesting, the UK is 10 years behind Oz however Europe is 20 years behind in reducing Smoking, reducing Smoking has massive benefits in Health and Social relationships, Oz has also started reducing Vapes
Smoking adds have been banned for over 30 years! We are in the process of banning gambling adds. Outdoor smoking in a non designated area has been banned for about 15 years and indoors in public places has been banned about 25 years. Statistically you would most likely be of lower socioeconomic status and very low education if you smoke so it holds a negative stigma that helps lower use.
In the main studio of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, in Sydney, in a line on the wall just near the main door, is a line of photos of ex staff. All were smokers, and all died of cancer around the age of 60. It was very sobering. It was such a fun place to work, no one left unless they had to.
Now, there's a literal poster for cancer. It's very sobering indeed.😮😢
I remember watching tv with my cousin who is 7 years younger than me. The show was set in the 90s. My cousin was aghast that people were smoking in a bar. I had to explain that I remember people smoking in the pub in the mid 2000's
Aussie and lived in the UK for a bit. To many differences to name. Went back so I still love it there. Lived in Glasgow for a bit and loved it. Go Sauchiehall St😂
Smoking was banned in malls in the 90s. Best thing they did. Hated going into the shops with people smoking. I am a non smoker.
I randomly talk to people in the shops. Did it at the bottle o today😂
Australia was the first country to replace all cigarette brands' case designs with eyeballs and gangrene, gross lungs, and toe tags.
Well it worked!
@@kerryhubber6049 Not really - It became a joke between tobacconists and customers. 'Can I have the pack that says ciggies harm my unborn baby - Im a dude so those ones will be ok.' and things like that.
And the tobacco most people buy these days comes in normal old school packaging as black market ciggies are from overseas.
@@kerryhubber6049did it ??
just come back from Singapore their cig packets are really hardcore 😮 eg. dead baby
When that happened it became exciting which one we got. Never deterred probably because Bryan they used was actually AIDS victim not ciggys, stupid advertisers use same person once in 70s then decades later for ciggy packets and thought we would not notice😂
I'm still driving a 2003 Lancer that I bought in 2009. It's been fully paid off for over a decade and keeps chugging along for about $1000 - $1500 in maintenance each year. I might be a bit on the stingier side, though.
Ya think????
Not stingy..smart really. If it's not broke, don't fix it.
Good on ya. Madness to invest in an expensive depreciating asset. Especially when Australia has such cheap second hand cars. I have a 2008 Ford Focus. It's at just over 170,000 km. Plenty of miles left on it. Runs perfectly. I don't need anything else and my house is paid off.
@@JustJokes-bw4fs second-hand cars are a lot cheaper in NZ.
I lived in Germany in the 1990’s and everyone smoked.Here in Australia, it’s like hardly anyone smokes.
I’m 73 and an X smoker in WA, when I was young all my mates smoked but now very few smoke. Young people today generally don’t. Vapping is banned in WA.
No it's not banned you can get them from the chemist without a script, unless under 18 (need a script)
The extra taxes go into healthcare for smokers!
@@jenniferharrison8915 sure just like taxes on petrol go to road repairs! Ha ha
Probably spent on useless referendums!
most people I know tried giving up smoking when they became like $30 / packet and that was many years ago
I watched this vid when he posted it, commented he should start a mobile coffee business lol
Thanks again for reaching mate!
Most people drive an affordable car. Import fees make a lot of cars too expensive to purchase.
Most new cars are overpriced in Oz.
The humidity comment at the end!
Thats something that surprised me about the UK when I was last there in the middle of Summer. It might only have peaked at 33°c but it just felt so humid and muggy.
Public spaces and homes didnt have AC or ceiling fans so no air movement. The grass was green, so I guess it was the evapotranspiration(?) from all the green leaves when walking in parks and gardens and fields made me sweat after minimal physical effort.
In Adelaide, our summers are usually midly hot but very dry. Being near the coast though theres also usually a cool late afternoon breeze as the sunsets.
Hang your washing out in the middle of the day and it will be dry before the next load finishes it's 30min quick cycle in the machine 😂
Adelaide summers are hot even by Australian standards. Days that do not drop below 25C, sometimes for several days.
I just did a tour round UK from Australia and I noticed smokers and vaping everywhere there, wasn't used to it at all
@@xoxoxANGExoxox Me too !
I just come back from 3 months in Europe and it was horrible sitting outside having a meal and people were smoking everywhere. I come from New Zealand and we have laws to stop smoking in lots of places. Best thing the government ever did and yes I used to smoke. Besides that Europe is lovely.
Oh and it was very hard to get a nice decent sized cup of coffee.
Australia was just like that too Decades ago, but through Campaigns, Smoking Laws (where you could and couldn’t Smoke), and higher Taxing, we’ve changed completely. Back in the early 80s my first part-time Job was in a Toy Store, and we had big a Cigarette and Cigar section overhead on the Front Counter. My Mum used to send me to the Corner Store, at the age of 11 to buy Cigarettes and Milk, or Bread, and the Corner Shop didn’t blink an eye. A very different time, and things clearly need to change. And it worked, and now Vaping has replaced them, and we’re back to square one with that. Also I heard that Gen Z now consider Cigarette Smoking to be like a Vintage thing and rates are rising in that demographic. Crazy business.
My Mum used to send me to the deli for smokes, paper and milk. It was put on her account which she paid weekly. I started smoking as a teen so I booked up one packet a week in her account. We'd smoke them on the back of the bus to and from school. The driver would get angry not because we were smoking as there were ashtrays on the bus, but because we were underage! I'm glad the smoking kills campaign is so broad and constant. It's a deadly addiction.
Vaping is much easier on the body.
If we had the Autobahn in Australia, there would be a lot more high performance cars on the road.
People smoke but you cannot smoke in or near a public building cafe shopping centre whatever. There is a lot less smokers though. I have been to Europe and was shocked to see someone smoking right under a no smoking sign. You can be fined heavily and a cafe or owner can lose their licence.
As a Australian, I remember well, the first time I went to Paris. Could not believe that the streets were littered with cigarettes butts. What a turn off.
The restrictions on smoking were a great thing. We smokers didn't think so at the beginning, but it helped so many people give it up. I guess, as more and more people dropped it, it became a bit lonely being the only one going outside for a smoke. Now, cigarettes are really expensive, I'm told, which again might deter people from starting. And the place is so much cleaner.
Our country Australia 🇦🇺 is totally ###### ! Enjoy
As an Australian, I hate this country.
Honestly it wasn't until i was almost an adult (25 now) that I even met people who were smokers, and usually they were born in other countries and developed the habit over there. My whole extended family maybe has 1 smoker and my family is large. so crazy how normalised it is everywhere else, also vaping is banned here in SA
I’m 61 In my lifetime smoking has shifted from upbiquitous in Australia to pretty rare. I have always hated smoking and When I was a young adult it meant I rarely went to pubs etc because the smoke would get into all your clothes and hair and I just hated it. I I’m sure nowadays like the guy said it’s to do with the cost but I remember the change happened before the price hikes. It was driven by some very clever Public Health campaigns driven by Labor governments. You can’t really have campaigns like that now because back in the day everyone watched the same 4 TV channels and listened to the same 1 or 2 local radio stations. This made it easy to get a message out. Now with Social Media it’s just about impossible to get a message out to everyone consistently. We’re now tackling Vaping. We have laws that vape liquid containing nicotine cannot be imported but the pushers got around that by taking the word ‘nicotine’ out of the ingredients label even though it was in the product. So just recently a bill was passed banning all imported vape products. Will be interesting to see how that goes. It’s scary to see how easily people just adopt the next stupidly bad for your health craze and shows why we really do need Public Health measures to protect people particularly young tweens and teens from themselves. And yes coffee in most of the world is shit. BTW I did a lot of research into the health effects of coffee. Turns out it doesn’t do anything bad to your body so enjoy your next sip!
I saw a guy smoking in the street yesterday in Sydney. It looked so STRANGE. Smoking in Australia is totally unacceptable. And we have great coffee. And we start the day early 🎉
Sadly only poor people still smoke in Australia, the one group who can least afford to pay eye watering "naughty tax"
It's really mean and punitive
They have a choice
@@terencemccarthy8615haha, thank you captain obvious. I'm sure the "you do it to yourself" shame and blame more than make up for the monetary penalty
@@terencemccarthy8615 They axiomatically do not have a choice in the way you are phrasing that comment.
I agree that there is a group of people that can't afford the habit and are unable to quit. I have a lot of compassion for them. And would support measures to support those people .... Yet we have stopped so many people taking it up. It is something that people know is priced out of their league and accept that they shouldn't push ciggies on their family and friends.
@@zoeolsson5683 Same as NZ, the poorest are the biggest smokers.
I am 70 years old from the UK originally and been in Oz since the 80s. About 5 years ago I got fined for jaywalking at the lights in Sydney (I stepped off the pavement momentarily before the green man appeared although the traffic lights were red and all the cars had stopped). The cop gave me a lecture, to which I said "I had no idea jaywalking was a thing in Australia!" I was gobsmacked that I had been here so long and NEVER come across it before!
That cop was being a knob.
He must have just lost a court case or something. But yeah, you won’t get dont for jaywalking anywhere but in big cities.
your from the UK, we got all our laws from you guys.
@@Thedirtyaussie1984 not all but most
76 year old sydneysider - never heard of that happening!
At 5:55 in Australia I'll wait for a green if there's kids around
Melbourne, Sydney , SA has perfect coffee
I use to mix tobacco with my weed because everyone else did. I didn’t smoke cigs but l smoked tobacco with my weed to spread it out more. When the prices kept going up l just decided to smoke weed just by itself. Best decision. There’s no harshness anymore and l don’t cough up phlegm.
Australia said its' 'graphic warnings' (world first) on cigarette packets were the reason smoking dropped a little down here but mainly it was the massive excise (tax) increases every few months. It's now $2 or more per cigarette & Aussies are buying illegal ones because the government profiting about 95% of the price is ridiculous. And illegal ones fund criminals or terrorist organisations.... Policies that might sound good (like alcohol prohibition in the US a century ago) don't always end well...
Filling your car up with petrol funds terrorist states too. People still do that and don't care. The government even does it.
When the choice is either overpay due to constant government theft or pay a fair price - Most will pick to go with which of the two criminals is giving the better deal.
The answer to it all is to provide better value legally - but our politicians are simply too dim to work that out.
They started to increase the price of cigarettes in the mid-90s. The price doubled, but was laughingly cheap compared to current prices. They kept increasing teh tax on cigarettes and it continues to grow. Yes, young people in particular were buying vapes to the point where they are now only available legally at chemists. Lots of nicotene products - patches (don't see them much now), lozenges, sprays and vapes so there are still lots of addicts, just not smoke. Jaywalking is illegal but rarely prosecuted.
Smoking is too expensive in Australia.
Well, I don't know where he went in Australia but I haven't seen a cigarette or an ashtray in Oz in over fifteen years. I haven't even smelled cigarette smoke. It's not allowed in public.
That's BS, you can still smoke in your own backyard, on the streets, and people stop smoking because they can't afford it. The government makes heaps of money out of it, filling their own pockets..
@@Lilygirl283 Yes, you can smoke in your own backyard, it's not a public place. But oh no. YOU CANNOT SMOKE IN THE STREETS. TRY IT AND SEE WHAT HAPPENS.
@@Lilygirl283 And how much money does the government make when no one smokes?
Legislation banning smoking in offices and many other places was enacted in the late 1980's. Also, smokes were then secured behind non-transparent doors in plain packaging. The smoking-related diseases and health impacts of smoking resulted in many public campaigns about serious health and longevity and there have been a number of public health programs.
Hey Mat, ~3.5 million people smoke in Australia, the government reaps $8 Billion dollars a year from smokers, I'm a smoker but, feel very excluded. Sorry, rant finished, love your your work. 👍
Yup me too! The taxes on smokes is unbelievable….i think it’s time they gave heavy drinkers a go, I’m sick of being a dinosaur 🤪
Hardly anyone smokes in Australia but the young people have begun vaping. We have had a very big anti smoking campaign for years and smoking is not allowed anywhere indoors. Ive just come back from Europe and was shocked at all the people smoking.
How is the smell indoors in Europe? I can smell and see the tar on the walls just with your words. As a non smoker I really dread wanting to ever go overseas as my asthma would go berserk. I mum was smoker and the smell was horrific. She could never smell it though. Not to mention now that the damage has been done she has multiple mental illness issues.
@@rachelhovenden3669 Not so much smoking indoors thank goodness. But outside there was a fair bit. Very unpleasant walking through peoes smoke.
As an Australian, everyone here vapes and smokes cigarettes, marijuana etc.
Too expensive to smoke in Australia
TV advertising of tobacco products was banned in 1976 in Australia
Hi i have been living in China for 25 years and will be starting a channel this weekend to record my reverse culture shocks of returning to oz
Most German cars are a status symbol in Australia
I currently live in Sydney Australia. In the last 30years there has definitely been a decline in the number of smokers. I work in an office of 30 employees and we only have one smoker. Every time I travel overseas I definitely notice the smell of cigarettes when I walk down the street.
On the car subject australia and NZ have one the the largest selcetion of car brands in the world so its a very diverse range. The euro brands are on the rise you see a decent amout of mercedes, bmw, volkswagon group like audi, skoda,vw but there is a large sector of economy brands like kia,hyundai etc..
I follow this guy!
Back in 1972 my doctor told my mother and me to take up smoking as it was good for you he always had a smoke in his mouth i got stitches in my head foot stomach in 3 different accidents he had a smoke in his mouth every time how times have changed in Australia
. On the topic of cars, it’s fair to say that at least in Melbourne the most common cars are the big and expensive four wheel drives that cost around as much here as the cars that he mentioned. Most common cars though are the normal newish’ Japanese, Korean etc. sedans. In terms of weather, Australia varies hugely depending on where you are. Tasmania is cool most of the year but by the time you get as far north as Brisbane it tends to be very humid and hot in summer. Keep in mind though that there is still a long way to go before you reach the very top of Australia.
In my 80 years I've lived in 20 countries. I owned an entertainment company which produced Casino style shows worldwide. You'd be surprised at the changes I've seen. So much so I recently wrote a book called From the Top.
Here in Australia smokers are treated like lepers.
Non smoker here. I don’t want smokers anywhere near me or my food. Filthy habit.
@@stelmosfire11
It's gross. My neigbour smokes and it stinks. He has three kids under 6.
$55 dollars per pack of 40. Not suprised no one smokes in Australia.
Where do you get that from? Plenty of people still smoke...😂
@@Lilygirl283That’s NOT true, smoking has declined every year in Australia. Compared to the past when the smoking rate was very high and people died rate from lung cancer and other related smoking conditions.
Whereas now smoking is down to just 9%, compared to 20% in 1991 and much much higher in the 60’s before they knew the harm smoking caused to your health.
@@bellabana You are going off dodgy government propaganda stats I think. People buying blackmarket tobacco won't show in them.
There are people who on paper would look like that have never purchased ciggies but are long term heavy smokers who refuse to have their money effectively stolen by the government.
@Lilygirl283
but compared to Europe etc it's very low
If you grew up with the anti-smoking ads we did, you wouldn’t smoke either!!
His English accent sounds quite Australian. Yep, smoking amongst all age groups is noticeably common in Europe- The first thing I smelt when I arrived at Vienna airport was the smell of cigarette smoke and then I remembered what everybody had told me about it - the rates of smoking in Europe very noticeable to us Australians.
My first visit to Austria in 2003 I was shocked by how many people smoked. I felt like I wanted to take my lungs out of my body and rinse them out. It was awful.
G'day Mate! Smoking has declined dramatically in recent years ( thankfully) but to think that vaping will take over here is wrong too. As of July 1st 2024 all vaping products are considered therapeutic goods and as such can only be sold by pharmacies.... The thing there is that most pharmacies are refusing to stock the stuff. Also until October 1st everyone needs a prescription to purchase those products. After that date only under 18's will need a prescription... Cheers!
Yes, and we are in the top three counties in the world for life expectancy. Saving the health system billions of dollars each year. Go anywhere and you do not have to breathe second hand smoke.
Yes, and the highest amount of homeless people per capita among OECD countries. But dying healthier 😂
I worked on Australian government policies to reduce smoking. I’m so glad that those policies are working. I did the updates on the research, the toll tobacco use takes on health is horrific, and totally avoidable. It would be great if we could reduce it to zero.
Vaping in Australia is a huge problem, especially amongst teens. My daughter attends a Catholic school, and six out of every ten kids were vaping.
They were so addicted. Now, the laws have changed. idk if they are still getting them somehow.
I still know a lot of adults that still smoke. They just don't do it so much publicly as its been ostracised.
Organized crime thanks you for your hard work in creating a new multibillion dollar industry for them where not one cent of the money now goes to hospitals/revenue.
Well done.
Muppet.
Vaping is in the process of being via Doctor prescription only to assist in smoking cessation. Vaping was marketed to children with colourful packaging and lollie like flavouring. To prevent a whole new generation of addiction, the policy changes were fairly rapid
Toyota Hilux and Ford Ranger are our top selling cars. We mostly don't compete with snobby type cars.
But you seem to be competing on who has the biggest trucks. Too big for even a normal car park.
@@maxineb9598 You are right - A common joke here is that people with those cars keep the tools in the cab of the vehicle instead of the back.
They do make sense for people with farms etc. But only massive bogan wankers own and drive them in the cities.
About 50% of people smoke where i live but I do live in a rough area
There are few European sports cars here in Australia because of simple words: Luxury Car Tax.
Yeah, the luxury car tax and proximity to Asia mean that most of the Japanese, Korean, and increasingly Chinese, cars are all way more affordable. And, hilariously, that a lot of crappy Euro-boxes (the cheapest Renaults, Fiats, Alfas, Peugeots) are considered more exotic simply because they're European.
I smoked in my 20s but stopped in my 30s having had my first asthma attack ..i am so glad the govt clamped down on it for my own sake but it has also been great for people who work in hospitality or music . They no longer have their lives shortened by working in smoke for hours
Please please please make your own Reverse Culture Shock video about visiting the UK after living so long in Malaysia. I would be very interested.
With the smoking, there was a big ‘American political scandal (in the 1970s) where Tobacco Companies were forced to testify to Congress that they knew cigarettes caused lung cancer, a very large cause of mortality, and they had known and suppressed scientific data on that for decades. During the 1980s the issue of second hand smoke causing lung cancer reared its head. The Australian response - it’s a long time ago, but there might have been a court case - was to make this a Work Health and Safety WHS issue. Workers complained about it being unsafe to breathe cigarette smoke at work. Smoking indoors at hospitals, schools and most businesses was banned and complied with quickly.
There was a decade long fight over smoking in hospitality venues, with arguments that for smokers, smoking was inextricably tied with eating and drinking, and banning smoking in those venues would put most of them out of business. However resteraunts (and airplanes) were forced to introduce non smoking and smoking areas…which in practise were in the same room or connected rooms. But in the meantime smokers had voluntarily stopped smoking indoors at home and in the car if there were children present. Prior to the first workplace indoor smoking bans adults were socially and legally fully entitled to hotbox their children in homes and - most horribly - in cars, even us children with asthma. Asthmatics were expected to use their rescue inhalers rather than deprive an adult of a cigarette. Everyone understood how addictive they were.
Resteraunts finally caved to no smoking indoors, but pubs held out longer, eventually settling on a Beer Garden compromise. For the first time Australian pubs prioritised outdoor seating areas out of nowhere, where patrons could both smoke and drink. The day after cigarettes were banned inside pubs and nightclubs was a huge shock to everyone. I walked into a pub and it REEKED of piss. The cigarette smoke had been covering up how FILTHY drinking venues got from urine splashes everywhere in the men’s bathrooms. There was this HUGE dip in pub attendance for months before pubs and clubs all acquired more staff to keep the toilets under control.
Next came the smoke break problem… not that smokers took them, but that to cut how long the smoke break was they smoked just outside the doors. Can you imagine being on the footpath outside a series of skyscrapers, outside a hospital, a shopping mall, any large building? Dozens of smokers all in one place where people had to pass. The air for so many metres around the doors became so saturated with smoke you may as well be in a closed up car with smokers. I forget whether a law was passed, or companies just caved to pressure, but smokers were forced further and further away from buildings to smoke. This period of smoking culture started coinciding with the results of five other pressures.
Firstly the government banned tobacco advertising on TV, radio, print media and eventually from the loophole of inside sports venues, such as the sidings of footy grounds (which were televised). Secondly they started up the QUIT smoking campaign, which had a multiple of prongs, but noticeably the Shock Value anti-smoking ads that were similar to our shock value safe-driving ads graphically showing dead, damaged and disabled people on issues such as seatbelts, speed limits, and driving on alcohol. Thirdly after a decade or so of industry fighting, plain cigarette packaging was imposed, soon followed by large repulsive gory pictures on the box of every tobacco product accompanied by slogans such as ‘Smoking Harms Your Unborn Baby’. These enforced packaging changes really put off a lot of new and social smokers.
Fourthly the price rises started and escalated. In 1990 the Australian government stopped subsidising tobacco farmers. I’m not sure on the tax timeline, but for at least 2 or 3 decades taxes on cigarettes and other tobacco products (and alcohol to a lesser extent) started in and just kept rising. 30 years ago if the tax rate we have today was slapped on cigarettes back then there would have been riots in the streets and demonstrations everywhere. In the 1970s about 37% of Australians smoked. In 2018 it was down to 12.5%. Now we see old shows with people chain smoking in hospital, detectives smoking at desks, parents smoking around children, and were shocked to our toes.
Our culture has changed radically during my lifetime, and this is not the only huge change. Sun safety. Pervasive Sexual Harassment turning into consent culture. Out and proud homophobia turned around to LGBT+ acceptance in major areas, although not everywhere. Not only Same Sex marriage, but on government forms and hospital admissions in Victoria you are asked your pronouns, and there are several gender options, including Intersex and Non Binary.
Yes the fight against passive smoking was in full throttle. 👏👏
I grew up in NZ and now live in Australia. We were buying cigarettes in the late 2000s as 18-20 year olds. I think it was around NZ$15-20 for a pack but it was already going up every year. Here in Australia it's similar, and I think the last time I bought a pack a few years ago it was over AU$30. Probably even more now.
Never been a full time smoker - just when drinking while young and dumb. I might have 1 in Asia because it's cheap and I'm on holiday, but there is absolutely no way I can justify buying them here, now.
You can complain all you want, but if it makes you stop, that's only a good thing.
When I started smoking, at the age of 15 [52 years ago], a pack of 20 marlboro was about 40cents. Today, the same pack of Marlboro is 51 dollars. Needless to say, I stopped smoking a long time ago.
We all punch darts.
Australians are less materialistic, we don’t care if you drive a bmw or ride a bicycle! If we like you then we like you. We do enjoy vapes….more than we should.
@robertoNcognito Not really - BMWs don't last well in Australian conditions and are very unreliable compared to Japanese cars which do last in Australian conditions.
More people just know you're someone who knows nothing about cars and don't drive more than to the local shops if you own a BMW in Australia.
I have never based my decisions on who I will talk to based on their car. That would be both shallow and retarded.
I smoked for 52 years i gave up 16 months ago i know one thing is Australia is the best country in the world we go on holidays just to confirm we live in the best country
I'm an Australian. It is quite rare now to see a smoker in Australia. You do see the occasional person smoking out in the open - it's not allowed indoors in public places. I personally think the way smokers have been treated in Australia is draconian. Ban smoking in buildings is fine and good. But making cigarettes ultra expensive is cruel - cruel because most smokers are not wealthy people and are smoking to keep themselves sane. Australians generally don't go in for ostentation much - expensive cars are a rarity. Lots of BMW's and Audi's, but not mega expensive ones. It's not uncommon for rich people to have very ordinary cars.
In Australia, fax machines are still used by medical offices. I once had to scan and then email a referral. The admin staff then printed my pdf and then faxed the paper copy to the doctor. The image had degraded to be unreadable, so the doctor never called to make the appointment. Made me so angry, when I finally called to follow it up.
I have just returned to oz after 21 years away. When I left there was almost no black market tobacco/ cigarettes. Now the government has raised the taxes so much that we now have a thriving black market of cigarettes. In the end people will still smoke and I suspect the loss of tax revenue is going to bite hard in the future.
The NSW government raises the excise on beer twice each year.
@@robert3987is that legal? I didn’t think the states had the authority to apply taxes? I vaguely remember that the states lost a court case years ago and the federal government had to replace state based tax on cigarettes?
Well that’s funny,I am from western Australian and I smoke
Cigarettes are so expensive now in Australia that we have a growing black market for cheap imports.
A cheap 20 pack will cost $32, but some places now do the sneaky and will offer black market packs for $16.
When I took up smoking at 16, a packet of 25's was $2.10 in 1988 and there was tobacco advertising everywhere. Now a packet of 25's is about $50+ and smoking is a very anti-social activity, heavily frowned upon. I've vaped for the last decade but that's been severely restricted too, you can only buy a very limited variety of vaping products from pharmacies now as a quit smoking aid. Time to just quit nicotine I guess.
My mother in law now in her late 90s, took up smoking in her mid twenties because her doctor prescribed it to her to help with the stress of her alcoholic violent husband. 😳
In Australia we put out money into buying homes.
Really? Have you been to any wealthy areas in Sydney and seen the toys they buy?
Really? No one e in Australia can afford a house in Australia anymore !
@@rickute1458 People can afford a house but not always where they want to live. Also, a problem with that is that there are not enough provincial cities in the inner parts of the country which have work and other activities for people as in other first world countries .The population needs to be spread out more than clustered around the main cities.
Plenty of people still smoke in Australia , most people get their cigarettes on the flagrantly open black market ........ the place I get them is across the road from the local magistrates ffs , and I've seen the police in there buying smokes
That wouldn't surprise me that the cops buy them there too ..
@@Lilygirl283 Cops have to live on a tight budget these days too. They understand that the government created the blackmarket themselves via bad policy.
Australia makes it a chocolate and coffee beans
When I stopped smoking in Australia 22 years ago, I was smoking 40 a day of a particular brand - and enjoying it. It was expensive but not unmanageably so. Today those same cigarettes would cost me $490 a week which I certainly couldn't afford. I, and my wallet, are pleased I stopped.
There's a lot less smoking and a lot more meth in Australia these days, haha... Progress.
In Australia there is no cigarette advertising. No Cigarettes can be displayed in shops. Smoking in most public places is prohibited in Australia. From 1 October 2024, people 18 years or over will be able to purchase nicotine vapes directly from a pharmacy without a prescription, but only from a pharmacy.
Cigarettes cost over $50 per pack in Australia and vapes have just been completely banned. Smoking is banned in almost all public places including anywhere outdoors where food or drinks are served, beaches, bus stops etc. less than 8% of Australians smoke
Yes we have nearly eliminated cigarette Butts in the Gutters and every where
I gave up ciggys back in 2015, I smoked about 6 packs or 300 ciggys a week, it was costing me $210.00 a week.
It’s expensive to smoke in Australia.
We keep our cars longer in Australia and imports are highly taxed if over a certain price bracket.
4x4 dual cab Ute diesel burner is number 1 seller. ✊
In Australia if you vape in public the police will ask you to show them the proof of purchasing the nicotine juice together with the prescription. There is a huge black market for cigarettes. Many people hide while smoking them.
Lots of Aussies still smoke - You don't see it as much here cause its generally done at home due to it being banned in public places.
The stats are also inaccurate as most buy tobacco on the black market because of unjust draconian taxes on legal tobacco.
the smoking thing just reminds me of how Authoritarian Australia has become, when I was young(49) many things that are now seen as bad or not so socially acceptable are far more restricted, Smoking, Dirt bike riding with no licence or rego was once normal, 4wding was cheap and easy now its expensive and hard to access, anything around firearms is just ridiculous, camping/bush walking was free and easy now national parks are often pay to enter and even permits for walks, so many more things.
As a teen in Australia in the 90s we could go to our local milk bar and put our smokes on tab (as in pay later) but we were all under age so we never payed and the store owner couldn't do anything because they sold to underage. its only now as an adult I realise what chaos and destruction I and others must have caused this owner and his family. I wish I could take back what I was a part of
My ciggies are $80 for 40, two days! About ten years ago they changed the taste of cigarettes but we kept going, then they started taxing us out of the habit. We kept going. It wasn't until my lungs collapsed that I stopped. Maybe should have done it earlier, it was easy and now I've got money:) I bought a great electric dirt bike but I'm too fucked to ride it. How frustratement.
WE SMOKE MORE WEED THAN TOBACCO
F**k, I do. 🌿😵💫👍
F YEAH
Thanks Matt. I smoke. It pisses me off how freakin' greedy the Aust' Govt' has been with their tobacco taxes. Small wonder the Black market is pushing chop-chop and cheap imported tailor made smokes. I'm not disregarding the health aspect, nor the right fullness of a tax. I live in Canberra. We are lucky here. 🌿🌿🇦🇺😵💫👍