Aboriginal-led youth vaping push sends 42,000 to quit support
Flip the Vape Week generated more than 38 million impressions across Australia during 15 to 21 June 2026, according to results released in NAIDOC Week on 9 July 2026.
The youth vaping campaign also recorded more than 42,000 click-throughs to quitting support and information. Organisers counted more than 920,000 video views across TikTok, Instagram and Facebook.
Six Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations ran the campaign with Tackling Indigenous Smoking teams in Victoria, New South Wales, Tasmania, the Northern Territory, Western Australia and South Australia.
Organisers described it as Australia’s first national Aboriginal-led week of action on youth vaping. More than 30 young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ambassadors fronted the effort.
The campaign mixed local events with a national outdoor buy and tightly targeted paid social advertising. Paid social delivered more than 3 million impressions to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people aged 16 to 24.
MOVE 2.0 independently measured that activity as reaching more than 1.9 million people aged 14 and over.
Jane Lennis from Galambila Aboriginal Health Service said the idea started with young people asking for a different message. “This came out from the kids,” she said.
Jane Lennis and local events
Across the week, communities hosted 11 events in six states and territories and drew more than 1,000 attendees. The events were shaped by local mob for their own communities.
Schools in four states have since asked the teams to return with follow-up programmes. In Tasmania, organisers found attendees left events with more negative views of vaping than when they arrived.
Northern Territory organisers also reported that young people started quit conversations with their families at home. The campaign results were released during NAIDOC Week as Australia marked 50 Years of Deadly.
Lionel Austin of the Victorian Aboriginal Health Service said the joint effort across six ACCHOs was unusual in this area and showed young people leading the message.
Courtney Ugle served as principal ambassador for the week. She is a proud Noongar woman, a Swan Districts WAFLW player and the founder of Waangkiny.
Campaign materials and performance data are now being shared with government decision-makers. Organisers released the figures in a media statement dated 9 July 2026.
