Selama ini disebarkan mitos bahwa gerakan anti rokok di Indonesia adalah untuk kepentingan asing (negara kapitalis). Kini di Australia yang tergolong negara kapitalis justru pemerintahnya yang melakukan gerakan pengendalian rokok secara sungguh-sungguh. Apakah pemerintah Australia bergerak demi kepentingan asing? KM
April 30, 2010 An Australian Health Department mock-up of the type of logo-free cigarette boxes it has planned. Australia Introduces Plain, Logo-Free Cigarette Packs Sydney. Australia said on Thursday that it would become the first country to ban logos and branding on cigarette packets in a bid to make them less attractive to smokers, sparking a furious response from the tobacco industry Under new legislation announced by the government aimed at cutting tobacco use, cigarettes sold in Australia starting on July 1, 2012, would have to have plain, standardized packages carrying only graphic warnings against smoking. The brand name is to be relegated to tiny, generic font at the bottom. Cigarettes are not cool, cigarettes kill people, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said. Therefore the government makes no apology whatsoever for what its doing. The tobacco companies will hate this measure, they will oppose it. Nonetheless we believe this and other measures help to reduce smoking. We intend, therefore, to get on with the job. He also announced an immediate 25 percent tax hike on tobacco, driving up the price of a pack of 30 cigarettes by to around 15 Australian dollars ($13 91). Tobacco companies immediately blasted the crackdown and vowed to fight it in court. Leading cigarette maker Imperial Tobacco Australia said it would challenge the move on the grounds that it would affect its profit, arguing that the branding has commercial value. Introducing plain packaging just takes away the ability of a consumer to identify our brand from another brand, and thats of value to us, Imperial Tobacco Australia spokeswoman Cathie Keogh told Australian Broadcasting Corp Retailers said the tax hike would hurt their businesses and bolster the cigarette black market. Its a lazy policy response being pushed by some health advocates, said Mick Daly, national ahairman of Australian supermarket chain IGA. That amounts to a direct attack on approximately 16 percent of Australians who have made legal and legitimate lifestyle choices. Tim Wilson, director of intellectual property at Australias Institute of Public Affairs, said tobacco companies would likely demand compensation over the forced packaging changes, which could cost taxpayers around 3 billion Australian dollars a year. AFP, AP [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
