‘It makes me feel slightly unwell to say it’: Dr Nick Coatsworth calls for cuts to taxes on cigarettes
He says the spectre of organised crime presents a bigger threat to Australia than the impact on smoking rates.
Dr Nick Coatsworth divides opinion — certainly in the medical community.
Partly it is about his allegedly permissive stance on COVID-19 protections while deputy chief medical officer, partly about his views on NSW psychiatrists quitting the public sector in their fight over pay, and partly about his views on specialists fee transparency.
But this week he fronted a federal Senate inquiry where he called for cuts to tobacco taxes.
For a trained respiratory physician to question one of the key public health mechanisms in a country where smoking-related diseases caused roughly 1.28 million deaths over the last 60 years, seems controversial.
