Smoking tax rise

Cigarettes will now cost 25 per cent more after the Federal Government announced an excise increase of approximately $2.16 per pack of 30. The rise will provide the government with an extra $5 billion over four years which, along with existing revenues from tobacco, will be directly invested in better health and hospitals. The higher cost of tobacco is expected to encourage about 87,000 smokers to quit.

Furthermore, in a world first, all cigarettes sold in Australia must be contained in plain packaging by 1 July 2012. A government statement said the move would remove one of the last remaining frontiers for cigarette advertising. At the same time the government intends to spend an extra $27.8 million on more hard-hitting advertisements over four years to persuade even more smokers to quit.

THERE is no question, smoking is bad. The long-term effects on individuals' health are well established, with higher rates of heart disease, stroke, lung and other cancers leading to a shorter life expectancy and an often painful l death. Smoking does little for the health system, either, imposing obvious costs in the direct treatment of those conditions. However, will a price increase really persuade smokers to quit? I think not. Tobacco use is an addiction. A price increase will not deter smoking; it will just bolster the thriving black market for cigarettes.

Also, changing the packets will have absolutely no effect. What's the point, if those horrible pictures (of smoking-related diseases) don't turn people off nothing will.