Prof Becky Freeman: key facts
- Kind of voice
- Academic
- Role
- Tobacco control expert with the University of Sydney's School of Public Health
- Quoted on
- Public health & prevention, Cancer
- Tracked press citations
- 5
- Most recently quoted
- 10 Sept 2026
- First quoted
- 27 Aug 2026
“I only support tax increases if they are effective at reducing smoking. And now we know the size of the illicit market and how incredibly cheap those products are, I agree that a freeze at this time makes sense. There wouldn't be any health gains by raising the price.”
What Prof Becky Freeman has said
“Illicit tobacco is a problem. But if you're smoking illicit tobacco right now and it's so cheap and easy to buy from your friendly neighbourhood tobacconist, why would you pay more for legal ones even if the price does come down?”
Tobacco control expert with the University of Sydney's School of Public Health · Public health & prevention · 10 Sept 2026 · Smoking rates fall to historic low across Australia despite the rise of illicit tobacco ↗
“There's no point in having laws if we don't enforce them. Illicit tobacco markets are actually shaped by supply chains, enforcement capacity, organised crime opportunity, how the industry behaves, retail controls, border dynamics, and, of course, the political pressures.”
University of Sydney tobacco control expert · Public health & prevention · 10 Sept 2026 · Experts weigh in on how to tackle illicit tobacco – and why an 80% excise cut is not on their list ↗
“If you were a tobacco industry executive this morning, I'm sure you'd be thinking 'Fantastic, I hope the Coalition wins government as it will prop up our business and help our bottom line,'”
leading public health expert at the University of Sydney · Public health & prevention · 10 Sept 2026 · Big tobacco is back in town as cigarette tax fight lights up Australian politics ↗
“This study is the first to assert that there is likely an increased cancer risk for people who vape, compared to people who do not vape.”
tobacco control researcher, University of Sydney · Cancer · 27 Aug 2026 · Vaping likely to cause lung and oral cancer, Australian researchers find in new review of evidence ↗
Where Prof Becky Freeman has been quoted
- Treasury considering changes to Australia’s contentious tobacco excise, as calls grow for a freezetheguardian.com · 10 Sept 2026
- Smoking rates fall to historic low across Australia despite the rise of illicit tobaccotheguardian.com · 10 Sept 2026
- Experts weigh in on how to tackle illicit tobacco – and why an 80% excise cut is not on their listtheguardian.com · 10 Sept 2026
- Big tobacco is back in town as cigarette tax fight lights up Australian politicstheguardian.com · 10 Sept 2026
- Vaping likely to cause lung and oral cancer, Australian researchers find in new review of evidencetheguardian.com · 27 Aug 2026
Related media coverage
Recent UK press coverage of their topics — not necessarily citing them directly.
Professors, researchers and think-tank analysts quoted on the strength of their research rather than a clinical role. Citations are counted by an automated scan of UK press coverage and may be incomplete. Roles, biographies and contact details are researched and human-reviewed before they appear here; anything not yet reviewed is simply absent rather than shown unverified. This profile was last updated on 5 Oct 2026. See the methodology for how this page is built, or email contact@bridgeheadcommunications.com to correct anything on it.