Public Health Experts and Labor Reject Coalition’s Plan to Cut Tobacco Excise

Good afternoon.

Leading public health experts, the Australian Medical Association and Labor have rejected Angus Taylor’s plan to cut tobacco excise by 80%, labelling the move to curb soaring illegal cigarette sales as a backward step on tobacco control.

Under the Coalition’s plan, the excise on a standard packet of 20 cigarettes would be cut from about $30 to about $6, while moves would be made to legalise and regulate vapes and nicotine pouches. The opposition leader argues the changes would undermine illicit tobacco dealers, who currently control more than half of all sales in Australia.

The Australian Medical Association president, Danielle McMullen, said the Coalition’s plan would undermine decades of public health efforts, while the Labor frontbencher Tanya Plibersek said the Coalition’s plan “will kill people”.

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