The last couple of weeks have been absolutely crazy for Australian vapers. On top of COVID-19 and everything else that’s going on, Australia’s many vapers have suddenly found themselves face to face with the prospect of no longer being able to access nicotine e-liquid through the current importation scheme that allows them to buy nicotine e-liquid from overseas suppliers. For those that haven’t been keeping up with the rapidly evolving situation down under, here’s the gist of it.

Australia’s Health Minister Announces The Ban

In June, the Minister of Health, Greg Hunt, announced a proposal to ban the importation of nicotine e-liquid. The date? July 1, 2020. Obviously, that’s a very short amount of time to shove a vaping ban down Australia’s throat, but he went for it.

Vapers Aren’t Pleased, Protests Begin

It didn’t take long for Australians to band together to fight the ban. Vapers started sharing their stories, many of which cited the UK Government’s research into e-cigarettes, particularly the part where Public Health England found e-cigs to likely be at least 95% less harmful than cigarettes.

Government MPs, both Liberals and Nationals, pushed back, calling for proper regulation instead of an outright ban. A petition was created by Australian MPs calling for vaping’s many supporters to sign it and have their voices heard. It received over 70,000 signatures in a matter of days.

Legalise Vaping Australia launched a defense fund to launch a legal challenge against the ban.

And the list goes on.

Clearly, vaping in Australia is important to many Australians and they were not pleased with Health Minister Greg Hunt’s decision to ban nicotine e-liquid imports.

The Government Delays The Ban

With just days to go before the ban was to go into effect, the Australian Government got cold feet and decided to delay the ban until January 1, 2021. That’s six more months that vapers in Australia can continue to import nicotine vape juice for personal use. While this isn’t a ton of time, it’s certainly better than nothing. So until the ban goes into effect next year, vapers across the country can continue to do what they’ve been doing without fear of interruption. This also provides time for vapers and their supporters to challenge the ban and fight for their right to vape instead of smoke.

Australians Continue Vaping

Amidst all of the craziness of the proposal to ban nicotine vape juice imports, Australia’s vapers have continued to vape. The interruption to their supply of nicotine liquid has been postponed, although not indefinitely, allowing them to continue vaping, but this could change. In fact, if things continue on their current course, vapers in Australia won’t be able to import nicotine vape juice for personal use starting next year.