Abbot Behind The Sheds Dragging On A $5 Million Cigarette
After helping out the mining industry it looks like opposition leader Tony Abbott is ready to deliver for another backer of the Coalition, the tobacco industry. Today’s Daily Telegraph reports that Liberal Party strategists are gearing up for a $5 million attack on the plan for plain cigarette packaging. The Greens and Labor support this plan.
The world is watching how the plain smoking packets are accepted and the impact on sales. For the tobacco industry they are looking to use this election to overturn the legislation due to take effect next July. And their great smoky hope is Tony Abbott. Simon Chapman, Professor of Public Health at Sydney University, has detailed that the whole purpose of stopping companies promoting their cigarettes through packaging is about reducing the number of smokers. Under the new plan the brand name will be uniform on all packets appearing in a small panel at the bottom of the pack. For the Greens Democracy4sale project the decision of Liberal strategists to help out the tobacco industry’s attack advertising campaign is not surprising. Our political donations work reveals that nationally the Coalition have taken $2.2 million from tobacco companies over the last 11 years. This dwarfs the money to Labor that comes in at under $700,000. The Coalition has taken $318,000 from big tobacco companies since the 2007 election. Nearly half that money was taken by the Liberals in NSW - $145,000. If Tony Abbott does not publicly back plain cigarette packaging the take home message is the big tobacco companies have bought Liberal support. You would have to think that the tobacco industry would judge the $2.2 million donated to the Coalition parties as a worthwhile investment. Mr Abbott could clear this up by publicly declaring that he backs plain packaging for cigarette packages. Anything less is weasel words So beware of Liberal and industry advertising that argues plain cigarette packaging is not in the interests of small retailers. This Small retailers are flourishing across this country - convenience stores are proliferating - and any problems they may have cannot be The whole purpose of the change in marketing at the point of sale is to reduce tobacco use. The fact that the tobacco industry is ready to put $5 million into their own attack advertising shows that they are worried the new policy will work and there will be fewer smokers.
that delivers for Liberal Party backers and betrays an important public health policy.
is just a tactic from the tobacco industry trying to use small business as cover as they know they are so publicly discredited.
attributed to difficulty in selling plain packets of cigarettes.
