The federal government will crack down on the importation and sale of non-prescription vapes, as Health Minister Mark Butler vows the industry's hold on children and teenagers "must end".
Stronger regulation will also extend beyond stopping imports to include restrictions on flavours, colours, and other ingredients and the introduction of pharmaceutical-like packaging.
The concentration and volume of nicotine will be reduced and all single-use vapes will be banned.
Vapes will also be locked out of retail settings, with the products currently available in convenience stores, with the bolstered controls to be implemented jointly by the federal government and states and territories.
The vaping industry found "the biggest loophole in Australian history", Mr Butler is expected to say during a National Press Club address on Tuesday.
"Vaping was sold to governments and communities around the world as a therapeutic product to help long-term smokers quit," he will say, according to excerpts of his speech. "It was not sold as a recreational product - especially not one for our kids. But that is what it has become: the biggest loophole in Australian history."
E-cigarettes which contain nicotine can only be legally purchased with a doctor's prescription, under a law introduced in October 2021, but a black market has since flourished, largely targeting children and teenagers.
Alongside tightening controls, the government announced a $234 million package to be included in the upcoming federal budget, aimed at addressing the harms of vaping and smoking among the population.
The funding package will include a $63 million public health information campaign to discourage vaping.
About $140 million will be aimed at stopping smoking - and vaping - among First Nations peoples.
Another $30 million will go towards support programs to help people quit, and education and training for health practitions in smoking and nicotine cessation.
Mr Butler will say one in six teenagers aged 14-17 has vaped, while of those aged 18-24, one in four people has done so.
"And when more than a thousand teenagers aged 15 to 17 were asked where they could get vapes, four out of five of them said they found it easy or somewhat easy to buy them in retail stores," he plans to say.
"This is a product targeted at our kids, sold alongside lollies and chocolate bars."
Already the primary behavioural issue in high schools, vaping is also becoming widespread in primary schools, he will say.
"Over the past 12 months, Victoria's poisons hotline has taken 50 calls about children under 4 becoming sick from ingesting or using a vape.
"Under the age of 4!"
Mr Butler will use his address on Tuesday to slam the tobacco industry for the marketing and sale of e-cigarettes, largely targeted at young people.
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