A health warning must be printed on every cigarette sold in Australia under strict new laws aimed at stamping out smoking.
Under the tobacco regulations, warning messages including ‘poison in every puff’, damages your lungs’, ’causes 16 cancers’, ‘shortens your life’ and ‘toxic addiction’ must be printed across every cigarette by April 2025.
‘We will be one of the first countries in the world to include this new public health measure, again seeking to educate but also dissuade smokers from using this deadly product,’ explained health minister Mark Butler, announcing the legislation last year.
The regulation guidelines were released in October 2024, giving manufacturers five months to comply with the April 2025 deadline.
Mr Butler said that retailers will have a three-month transition period, from April 1 to the end of June next year, to gradually phase out their old stock.
But industry sources told the Daily Telegraph that manufacturers will need more time to be able to revamp their supply chains in time to produce the new government-required cigarettes.
If manufacturers miss the deadline, Australia could face a situation where legal cigarettes are unavailable in stores.
Nationals senator Matt Canavan warned the government there was a ‘clear and understandable risk’ that people would turn to illegal cigarettes as a result of the legislation.
Manufacturers will have until April 2025 to print warning labels on every cigarette stick sold in order to comply with new government regulations
‘If there is an interruption to the supply of legal tobacco, it would push people to illicit tobacco,’ he said at Senate Estimates last week, while quizzing Health Department Secretary Dr Liz Develin.
‘Rushing the implementation of this, maybe not allowing manufacturers to respond in time could lead to greater use of illicit tobacco.
‘A big reason why organised crime is well-funded in this country is because illicit tobacco is very, very lucrative.’
Theo Foukkare, CEO of the Australian Association of Convenience Stores, said they supported the government’s initiative, but warned the deadline was unrealistic.
“If you were to print one message on a cigarette stick it’s somewhat achievable but we have to reconfigure,’ Mr Foukkare told The Daily Telegraph.
‘Retailers won’t be able to buy compliant products until their suppliers can provide that.
‘This isn’t about saying we don’t want to do this, it’s that we can’t do it in the time frame.’
Australia has followed the Canadian government which introduced warning labels on cigarette sticks in August 2023.
Manufacturers in Canada had until July 2024 to print the messages on all kingsize cigarettes and have until April 2025 to print on regular cigarettes and little cigars.
Cigarette prices in Australia are among the highest globally, with a 20-pack costing between $39 and $60, depending on the brand. Of this, $26 is tax alone.
Cigarette excise is indexed twice a year in line with average salaries, with the tax per stick rising by 2.8 per cent to $1.27816 on March 1, up from $1.24335.
This has fueled a booming black market.
