THERE will be a million fewer smokers in Australia if the Rudd government adopts new recommendations that are believed to include a sharp increase in taxes, plain labelling, a ban on internet sales and media campaigns.

The aim to cut the number of smokers from 17 per cent of the population to 9 per cent — from 3 million people to 2 million — is outlined in the Preventative Health Taskforce’s discussion paper, Making Smoking History.

The government is expected to progressively increase the price of cigarettes to $20 for a packet of 30 after receiving the taskforce’s report last week.

The increase would raise the average price of a single cigarette from 45c to 67c and bring in an estimated $1.97 billion in extra taxes. The tax rate increases would be the first in a decade on tobacco.

A discussion paper prepared by the taskforce last year invited comment on “progressively increasing the tax on tobacco products to the level in places like Ireland, Scandinavia and the UK, and reaching $20 for a packet of 30”.

Groups supporting the increase include the Cancer Council of Australia, the Heart Foundation, the Australian Medical Association, Australian Nursing Federation, Royal Australasian College of Physicians and a number of state governments.

A Newspoll survey last year showed 88 per cent of the population supported a tax hike on cigarettes.

Public Health Association of Australia president and deputy chairman of the inquiry, Mike Daube, said the only people opposing the increase were tobacco companies. Since the dangers of smoking became known in the 1950s, almost a million Australians had died prematurely because they smoked, he said.

“Every significant health organisation supports the increase,” Professor Daube said. “A tax increase is popular and raises money. Why wouldn’t any government do it?

“There’s excellent research showing disadvantaged groups are more likely to quit with a price rise. Far from hitting the battlers, tax increases on cigarettes actually help them.”

Kylie Lindorff, chairwoman of the Cancer Council’s Tobacco Issues Committee, said the taskforce’s recommendations included tax increases and a ban on internet sales.

“We ask the minister to implement these recommendations without delay,” she said. “All the evidence tells us that a price increase is the single most effective means to encourage smokers to quit. Some 75 per cent of smokers have indicated that if the price went to $20, they would attempt to quit.”

Ms Lindorff condemned the failure to close down the illegal cigarette trade, saying a price hike could fuel the trade and undermine the official efforts to reduce smoking.

The Australian has found that illegal cigarettes with no health warnings are being sold under the counter in Sydney for as little as $7 a packet.

Anne Jones, chief executive of the anti-smoking lobby group Ash, said by putting up cigarette taxes the government could pay for the whole national preventative health strategy. “Every health group and authority is supporting a tax increase on tobacco to the level of approximately $20 a packet. It is the most united policy position we have had in years.”

Health Minister Nicola Roxon has refused to comment on speculation the government will increase the cigarette tax. A spokeswoman said there had been a range of proposals and “we will respond in due course”.

Credit: John Stapleton