Australia says it will be first nation to ban all logos, branding on cigarette packets

Australia plans first plain cigarette packets

Australia said on Thursday it would become the world's first country to ban logos and branding on cigarette packets, sparking a furious response from the tobacco industry.

Cigarettes will be sold in plain, standardised packages carrying only graphic warnings against smoking from 2012, under new legislation announced by the government aimed at cutting tobacco use.

"Cigarettes are not cool, cigarettes kill people," said Prime Minister Kevin Rudd. "Therefore the government makes no apology whatsoever for what it's doing.

news.smh.com.au...

No beating around the bush here. Just outright say they kill people and not allowing any branding of any sorts.
The tobacco companies obviously oppose this. Imagine that...

Personally, I think if you want to smoke and are fully away from anyone else you should be allowed to. But I totally oppose smoking near other people or where others have to go. Second hand smoke does kill, even if there are still some people who don't believe it.

Always we see the NWO fabricating the false appearance of doing good. Part of the sales pitch.

just cheap way to pacify the special interest groups.

No country has the balls to ban such a large tax revenue generator.

i smoke because i'm weak and addicted..a plain brown package wont save my life.

reply to post by webpirate


True, I oppose smoking in 'closed' public spaces and near children etc.

What Rudd is doing is totally un-Australian!

If someone, through either addiction, or personal choice, chooses to smoke, then it is not up to anybody (including government) to restrict that freedom, or to dictate what those freedoms are!

If you want to be totally honest, in that you really are worried about the general public health of Australians, then you will also implement a total, across-the-board ban on all packaging on all harmful goods.
Biscuits, Beer, Wine, Spirits, Caviar, Champagne, All Fast food, (just a partial list) should 'all' be sold in 'Plain Packaging', have a 'total ban' on advertising, and be so unaffordable that the average person won't be able to afford them.

But this will never occur!
Why?
Because this latest policy is just like all Rudd's policies, designed to 'milk' more money out of the populace (the poorest elements of it) to make an already 'fat' government 'fatter', and the easiest target seems to be smokers.

With 'Obesity' as the No. 1 Killer in this country, don't you think it would be wise to implement these policies on 'fats food'?
Once again, "it will never happen"!

Shame on you Rudd!!!!
Go to China, matey, they will like your 'human rights abuses' there!!!!

reply to post by wrathchild




I'm a smoker too. I could care less what they are packaged in myself.

On the subject though.

We have gone too far as a people to ever be free again on a mass level. It's sad.

OH NO! Plain packaging? I'm quitting immediately!
But on a more serious note, KRudd also announced today that ciggarette prices are going to rise by 25%, at midnight tonight!

reply to post by broahes

I'm a smoker - and I'm all for this move - I don't keep my cigarettes in a packet anyway - but this is a good thing.

What I'm more pissed about is how hard it is to buy organic additive free tobacco these days.

That's the conspiracy.

and as if no one already knows what a packet of cigarettes look like, they already come with health warnings so how much more do they want to place on them.

It's just another money making scheme for the governments to pull on the addicted, with an extra 25% tax on top.

who will it really benefit, not the smoker's that's for sure.

Rudd is also talking increasing taxes on cigarettes until the average price is about $20 Oz per packet.. a rise of $7 to $8 each.

I'd like to see him Ban the Additions of Toxic Substances in the production of cigarettes. Which to my mind is where the real problem is, and the cause for the supposed drain on the health system. Whereas with fresh unadulterated tobacco the only risk is Tar in the Lungs... and a reduction in the addictiveness of cigarettes.

reply to post by JACKRADAKILL

Bought my last five packs today before the price rise tonight hope to quit monday I smoke a pack a day but i'll be damned if im paying an extra 700 bucks tax per annum ever time Rudd wants to pay for one of his cock-a-mainy schemes like the pink batt disaster.

reply to post by anglodemonicmatrix

Rolling tobacco is better. Way cheaper, better, and better for your lungs and the environment.

But this is a tax revenue thing, but thats not a bad thing.

Is there laws here about growing your own tobacco?

I'm pretty sure there is, which is stupid.

This has nothing to do with smoking. This comes down to one thing and Australians should listen close. They know what is best for you. If left to your own free will you will choose bad things so they TPTB need to steer you in the right direction. It is called a progressive mind set. And they want you to buy into that mindset.



Think about it this way in a few short years the whole macho Australian thing will be gone forever as they get a hold of your kids and turn them into weak minded sheep.


Just look at France actually look at the people living in France. Welcome to your future I give it 10 years in your case.

[edit on 29-4-2010 by Subjective Truth]

reply to post by Subjective Truth

hahahaha, that's such a generic american response I don't even know whether to take it serious or not.

You know why your government wants you to hate france so much? Because of what the French Revolution did for the world.

This cigarette thing is about money. And if we wanna have a stupid habit, we should have to pay for it - just like people who wanna go 4WD every weekend.

The tobacco companies should STOP selling any tobacco products in Australia.

Then i would give it 2 weeks before the riots start.

20% of the population without there cigarettes would be a disaster as they went nuts and started to take it out on all those around them.

Would you want to be a politician in a country suddenly without tobacco and all the smokers blaming you for the stupid law.

Luckily they have taken away guns from people in Australia.

The smokers will have to use pitchforks as weapons in there riots.

Originally posted by ghostsoldier
reply to post by Subjective Truth

 

hahahaha, that's such a generic american response I don't even know whether to take it serious or not.

You know why your government wants you to hate france so much? Because of what the French Revolution did for the world.

This cigarette thing is about money. And if we wanna have a stupid habit, we should have to pay for it - just like people who wanna go 4WD every weekend.

Generic I hate to tell you but no one is saying hate France. I do that for my own pleasure.

And also I hate to tell you just like the joker you are the exact minds they are looking for. I use the term sheep but in reality I wish I could use stronger words to equal the stupidity of it all. They will not stop with the cigarettes it is a way to open the door and once the get their foot inside that is when he real fun starts food will be next and so on and so on.....



They are smart they choose something people dont care that much about like the darn smokers then it will be the fat people. It is called social engineering and Hitler was also a big fan of it.



You should take what you think is the truth and reexamine every bit of it they are smarter then you and you need to think like them to see it.

[edit on 29-4-2010 by Subjective Truth]

reply to post by Subjective Truth

Good tip.

But if we didn't have a government making legislation we wouldn't have half of the things we take for granted.

You can't be paranoid about everything.

Social Engineering is cool by me, as long as it is benevolent in motive and practice.

And this particular step, is not an evil one.

why should the smokers have to pay more, just to get a point across to those who don't even buy the product.

next all smokers will have to wear paper bags on their heads so they cannot be recognised, why not just dump a tax on all that fresh air that the non smokers seem to have a need for, tax everything else available off the counter shelf to extremes.

reply to post by ghostsoldier




Then you are no better then them and I pity you. Freedom is not something that is given or that can be taken away. Who draws the line that you need to walk? And what happens when you fall on the wrong side of it.


Australians need to remember who they are not reinvent themselves into something else.


Social engineering is the dark side so to speak. Personal freedom is the only way to go but TPTB dont want that because they have little control and that is what this is truly about control.



Think about something you love to do. Really visualize it. Now think about someone telling you that it is not healthy for you and that you need to stop. Who draws the line. And why.




They TPTB think they know better then you on how to raise your kids and what you should eat and so on and so on..... Are these not personal things that you should be able to choose. I think so.


Look into the past other other leaders who wanted things a certain way and you will see a troubling trend.

The tobacconist in my area has done a roaring trade since the anouncement at about 1pm here today with people buying in bulk to save a small amount. He had one carton left of the brand I smoke at 4pm. With a rise of $2.00 per packet, a carton buy will save around $8.00. This is part of the $6.00 per packet price increase we were warned about a few weeks ago. 50 cigarettes (either in a 2 pack of 25 each, or a 50 packet) which cost $22.50 today - tomorrow will cost $24.50. (NSW price)

The generic branding policy - there maybe no net gain, as the gov might be up for billions of dollars to the cig companys in compensation for this.

Under Australian constitution, and international trade rights and laws, intellectual property and trademarks may not be reduced and devalued - if they are in some way then the trademark holder can be compensated. and the tobacco companys can be compensated to the value of $millions - this basically wipes out any money the government wanted to make on the new stance.

'The National Preventive Health Task Force' - has a list of recommendations as to what should be implemented to Australians. www.preventativehealth.org.au...$File/nphs-overview-oview.pdf
One of the targets: Reduce the prevalence of daily smoking
to 10% or less.

Does the generic branding policy think it will achieve this?

Problematically, its an economic nightmare - International Health are also considering for the same type of branding (trademark removal) on fast food due to the 'health'. The health organizations and the tobacco lobbyists are pushing agendas too far.

The thing which I dont see considered is the pictures which are on the packaging. I can say that the human parts on the pictures are prosthetics - they are not real body parts - they are made from special FX companies.

On a psychological perspective - 'what you focus upon, you bring to you' - these pictures subliminally promote the very thing they say they are trying to prevent. If the pictures are backed by those in Health - it should keep them in a job for a few years more then with these conditions from the pictures on the packaging.

With out Nanny State politics and an over regulating government - we are ostricising our neighbours, our brothers and sisters, our friends - our country. State and local government regulations are strangling the connectedness of our communities and our ability to make our own decisions - we are being used as an experiment in some ways.

The broader agenda is we are being restricted so deliberately - we are not a nation of irrersponsible people - we can make good choices - and we do, individually and collectively we do manage good solutions - but to make it law that we do so is biting into our freedoms.

As a speaker on the ABC Drive show was mentioning this afternoon - this is a Political distraction - from the internet filtering backdown. What else is going on out there that this 'smoke screen' is covering up today?

Smigs

[edit on 29/4/10 by Smiggle] Spelling

[edit on 29/4/10 by Smiggle]

With the Rudd government raising the price of cigarettes, crime will rise fast.
People will be followed coming out from tobacconist shops and assaulted or even killed going to their car.
Police will see a rise in:
House break-ins
Hold ups
Assaults
Smash and grabs ect.
Looks like I’m voting Abbott