Our Vision and Mission

Our Mission

TCU is dedicated to eliminating the pain, illness and suffering caused by tobacco.

We listen to and lead the community in ensuring the massive cost and harm caused by tobacco is high on the agenda of decision makers and the public.

We work with scientific rigour, professionalism and integrity to develop and advocate for evidence-based strategies in the form of laws, policies, programs and services that are responsive to the evolving needs of the community.
In collaboration with local, national and international partners we increase understanding of the harms and addictive nature of tobacco and strive to overcome the powerful forces that promote its use.

Our Vision 

In 2008 the community actively supports and believes in the importance and urgency of our work.

This will be reflected by:

• Laws, policies and programs that reduce uptake of smoking and exposure to ETS, increase cessation activity and reduce tobacco-caused harm
• A sizeable increase in funding from the Victorian and Australian governments, that ensures the investment in tobacco control reflects the harm caused by tobacco
• A tobacco industry that is increasingly held accountable for its actions
• A significant reduction in smoking prevalence among priority population groups.

The VicHealth Centre for Tobacco Control (VCTC) is based at The Cancer Council Victoria. VCTC is partly funded by the Victorian Health Promotion Foundation (VicHealth) as one of its Centres of Research and Practice, and The Cancer Council Victoria.

It commenced operations in January 2000, and was officially opened by the Minister of Health Hon. John Thwaites on 8th March 2000.

VCTC was established to conduct applied research and policy development work in the areas of health economics and law and regulation, that would lead to more effective and equitable tobacco control policies and programs, thus contributing to a reduction in population harms from tobacco use, especially among sub-groups that currently have very high smoking rates.

With the establishment of its Knowledge Building Group in 2004, the mission of VCTC has expanded to include more behavioural research focussed on improving cessation aids and on the effects of tobacco control policies on smokers and smoking.