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Alan Gorley

Alan Gorley

Australia

Substack

I’m an Australian advocate who believes compassion, evidence, and honesty should sit at the heart of public policy. I speak out on tobacco harm reduction, mental health, and the real-world consequences of prohibition.

Articles by Alan Gorley

Regional PerspectivesCommunity Perspectives

Australia’s 5.8% Smoking Rate: Accurate, Misleading, or Both? ↗

A quick apology for the length of this piece, but there is simply a great deal of information to work through if we are going to understand properly what Australia’s 5.8% smoking figure does, and does not, tell us.

20 September 2026

Consumer PerspectivesCommunity Perspectives

The Public-Health Escape Room ↗

You wake at 6.15 am and automatically reach for the packet beside the bed.

18 September 2026

Policy & RegulationCommunity Perspectives

They Knew. Now They Want Modelling. ↗

The government demands evidence before changing nicotine policy. Its own documents make the case for applying that standard to the policy already in place.

7 September 2026

Regional PerspectivesCommunity Perspectives

The Antis Assemble ↗

The Coalition has proposed a fundamental reset of Australia’s failed nicotine policy. The response from the public health establishment was entirely predictable.

3 September 2026

Consumer PerspectivesCommunity Perspectives

Four Countries, Four Nicotine Futures ↗

The United States, United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand are not merely interpreting evidence differently. They are answering different moral questions about commerce, autonomy and acceptable risk

29 August 2026

Policy & RegulationCommunity Perspectives

The Tobacco Control Antis Have a Problem ↗

One Nation has proposed a 75 per cent reduction in tobacco excise, and you could almost write the responses before they arrived: public health progress is threatened, Big Tobacco will benefit, smoking could increase, we need stronger enforcement, tougher penalties and more quitting support, and above all we must protect decades of tobacco control achievement.

18 August 2026

Media & CommunicationsCommunity Perspectives

Journal Entry - A Light Going Out ↗

I’ve been sitting with the news that Filter is closing, trying to understand why it feels like such a personal loss.

12 August 2026

Science & EvidenceCommunity Perspectives

INTERNAL MEMORANDUM ↗

Subject: To the Scientists Who Never Got the Memo

9 August 2026

Policy & RegulationCommunity Perspectives

The Corruption Was Never the Real Scandal ↗

When most people read the latest investigation into the collapse of the Australian Border Force’s secret intelligence unit, they will probably focus on one individual.

8 August 2026

Consumer PerspectivesCommunity Perspectives

The Wrong Question About Vaping ↗

Ecological momentary assessment is an impressive research method because, instead of asking participants to reconstruct their behaviour days or weeks later, researchers contact them in real time to ask what they are doing, where they are, how they are feeling and what happened immediately before they vaped.

5 August 2026

Cessation & BehaviourCommunity Perspectives

The Difference Between Quitting Nicotine and Ending Smoking ↗

Every so often, a paper appears that calls for a “balanced perspective.” It is a phrase that sounds reassuring because science should be balanced, public policy should be balanced, and decisions that affect millions of lives should certainly be balanced.

3 August 2026

Consumer PerspectivesCommunity Perspectives

The History of Safer ↗

Imagine writing the history of civilisation not through kings, wars, borders, revolutions or empires, but through something much simpler: the history of safer.

30 July 2026

Consumer PerspectivesCommunity Perspectives

Journal Entry - The Legacy I Want to Leave ↗

Lately, I have found myself thinking less about winning the battles in front of me and more about what will remain when those battles are no longer mine to fight.

19 July 2026

Science & EvidenceCommunity Perspectives

The Most Convenient Number Came First ↗

The latest National Drug Strategy Household Survey should have been an opportunity to give Australians a clear and honest account of what has happened to smoking, vaping and nicotine use since the federal government overturned the legal vaping market and forced lawful supply into participating pharmacies.

17 July 2026

Consumer PerspectivesCommunity Perspectives

Who Benefits from the Status Quo? - Part 2 ↗

This Substack continues from Part 1, where I explored how institutional incentives, path dependence and organisational structures can shape public policy.

11 July 2026