.Right: Is this what the future holds? Some research indicates that "brandless" packaging would deter more potential smokers than graphic images of diseases linked to smoking.
Background information
[The following is an abbreviation of the federal Government's recent announcement of anti-smoking measures. The full text of this announcement can be read at http://www.aushealthcare.com.au/news/news_details.asp?nid=17072)On April 29, 2010, the Rudd Government announced a wide-ranging package targeting smoking and its effects. This included:
a) The first increase in tobacco excise (above inflation) in more than a decade, an increase of 25 per cent
The Government will increase the excise and excise-equivalent customs duty rate applying to tobacco products by 25 per cent from midnight of April 29, 2010. The excise on cigarettes will increase from $0.2622 to $0.32775 per stick and loose leaf tobacco from $327.77 to $409.71 per kilogram of tobacco.
This will increase the price of a pack of 30 cigarettes by around $2.16. This measure is expected to cut total tobacco consumption by around six per cent and the number of smokers by two to three per cent - around 87,000 Australians.
It will provide an extra $5 billion over four years that, together with existing revenues collected from tobacco, will be directly invested in better health and hospitals through the National Health and Hospitals Network Fund.
Taxes on tobacco as a percentage of the retail price of tobacco are currently 62% in Australia, compared to 80% in France and 77.5% in the United Kingdom.
b) Cigarettes will have to be sold in plain packaging
All cigarettes will be sold in plain packaging by 1 July 2012. This removes one of the last forms of cigarette advertising available, and was a key recommendation of the National Preventative Health Taskforce.
The legislation will restrict or prohibit:
tobacco industry logos
brand imagery
colours
promotional text other than brand and product names in a standard colour, position, font style and size.
The Government will develop and test package design that will make cigarettes less appealing, particularly to young people. Graphic health warnings will be updated and expanded. Research shows that industry branding and packaging design reduce the effectiveness of graphic health warnings on tobacco products.
The National Preventative Health Taskforce concluded that 'there can be no justification for allowing any form of promotion for this uniquely dangerous and addictive product which it is illegal to sell to children', including packaging.
c) Restricting Australian internet advertising of tobacco products.
The Government will also legislate to restrict Australian internet advertising of tobacco products, bringing the internet into line with restrictions already in place in other media.
d) An extra $27.8 million is to be directed into anti-smoking campaigns.
The federal Government will boost investments in advertising campaigns by $27.8 million over four years, to a total of more than $85 million in the next four years.
This additional investment will be used for campaigns targeting people in high-need and highly disadvantaged groups such as low socio-economic communities and pregnant women and their partners.
This will extend and broaden the focus of the previous National Youth Tobacco Campaign. The first elements of the new campaigns will be rolled out by the end of 2010.
All four measures were recommendations of the National Preventative Health Taskforce. Through the Australian Taxation Office and Customs and Border Security the Government will continue its successful strong enforcement against the production and importation of illicit tobacco.