The price rise would reportedly push the cost of cigarettes up to $20 for a pack of 30

cigarettes.

It’s a part of a yet-to-be-released report from the Federal Government’s preventative health taskforce that was delivered to Health Minister Nicola Roxon last week, Fairfax newspapers report.

Other recommendations the taskforce has reportedly put forward include introducing generic packaging and increasing the size of health warnings on each packet to 100 per cent on the back and 90 per cent of the front.

“A tax increase will not only reduce consumption by 4 per cent with every 10 per cent increase in price, but it also reduces the take-up of smoking of children by 10 per cent,” Action on Smoking and Health chief executive Anne Jones told Sky News

yesterday.

Tobacco control and the harm caused by smoking was one of the most documented public health policies in the world and strong evidence from the World Bank showed that price was one of the most effective strategies to reducing tobacco harm, she said.\

“We’re right behind the recommendations for doubling the price to $20 and using that revenue to then drive down smoking rates because ... it’s the leading cause of chronic disease in Australia.”

It was “laughable” that the tobacco industry would fight the recommendations, including the push for more generic packaging, Ms Jones said.

“We have already generic packaging for lots of medicines and these are of course products that are available in pharmacies that are there to improve people’s health,” she said.

“And yet with this product that is lethal, causing 15,000 deaths a year, we’ve got very glamourised smoking packaging, even though there are health warnings there now which, again, the industry fought those.”

Ms Jones said she’d like to see the tax increase occur within the next 12 months.

“Maybe the tax will go up in stages and that will allow that some of the revenue will be used to help disadvantaged groups, because we don’t want smokers suffering any more than they currently are.”