Smokers soon face $40-a-pack of cigarettes after new laws pass parliament

LUCY MAE BEERS and DANIEL PIOTROWSKI
Smokers soon face $40-a-pack of cigarettes after new laws pass parliament
FOR DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA and AUSTRALIAN ASSOCIATED PRESS
Smokers will soon be slugged extra tax on cigarettes under laws that lift the cost to $40 a packet within four years.
Bipartisan legislation to increase the tax on cigarettes over four years cleared parliament on Wednesday night and will now move through the Senate.
‘There will be fewer young kids who take up smoking and Australia will be healthier as a result,’ shadow assistant treasurer Andrew Leigh told parliament.
Smokers will soon be slugged extra tax on cigarettes under draft laws that lift the cost to $40 a packet within four years
A 2015 Deutsche Bank survey found a Marlboro pack in Melbourne ($24.58AUD) or Sydney ($22.54) was double the price of those in Paris ($10.13) or Ottawa (11.59)
The excise will increase by 12.5 per cent each year to 2020.
Labor backed the legislation, having announced similar measures before the July 2 election.
A 2015 Deutsche Bank survey found a Marlboro pack in Melbourne ($24.58AUD) or Sydney ($22.54) was double the price of those in Paris ($10.13) or Ottawa (11.59).
The prices were astronomical compared to the dirt cheap products on offer in Beijing, China ($4.34), Cape Town, South Africa ($3.74) or Jakarta, Indonesia ($1.80).
Debate on the cigarette tax hike also left a Liberal backbencher calling for a rethink of the ban on nicotine e-cigarettes, arguing the devices could spell the end of cigarette smoking.
James Paterson said some of the reasons cited by health groups for maintaining the ban were puzzling and strange.
He hopes the government will facilitate rather than block moves to legalise what advocates say is a healthier alternative to smoking, describing the government’s current position on the devices as ‘sceptical’.
‘We could in our lifetime see the end of conventional cigarette smoking and tobacco smoking and it could be replaced by a much safer alternative,’ he told parliament.
‘We have to look at very seriously whether or not we should legislate these products.’
Senator Paterson said the tax was regressive and would disproportionately hit poor people, calling for a rethink of the ban on nicotine used in e-cigarettes.