Smokers could soon be confronted with new health warnings and fresh graphic images in a fresh bid to get them to quit.
Health Minister Mark Butler outlined the federal government’s plan to overhaul packaging as part of a suite of measures to slash smoking rates to below 10 per cent by 2025.
But he stopped short of endorsing Australia following in the footsteps of New Zealand and outlawing smoking for the next generation.
Speaking to reporters in Canberra on No Tobacco Day on Wednesday, Mr Butler said the government was “renewing the fight” against tobacco.
“Australia has been a leader in public health measures to discourage smoking but after a decade of inaction, the gains of Labor‘s world-leading plain packaging laws have been squandered,”