Deliberately personal: Tobacco control debates and deliberative democracy in New South Wales

Abstract

In this paper the authors examine some of the main features of public discourse concerning tobacco control, analyzing parliamentary debate in New South Wales between 1980 and 2003. They ask how deeply tobacco industry discursive frames (e.g. the ‘right to smoke’) penetrated and organized parliamentary discourse and also identify what kinds of ideas were mobilized to justify tobacco control despite government reluctance to intervene. They find that the overall evolution of tobacco control policy was shaped by legislators’ commitment to the ideals of deliberative democracy. It is argued first that parliamentary debate on tobacco control was conducted in highly moralized language that effectively excluded the tobacco industry's arguments. Second, it is shown that this discourse was constructed and validated through the extensive use of personal anecdote and references, through which MPs sought to reflect public opinion and engage in authentic deliberation. Finally it is argued that MPs positioned this concern for authentic deliberation as part of the debate on tobacco itself, associating tobacco control with ideal government.