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(News.com.au) Scary To discourage smoking, Australia plans to make all cigarette wrapping generic, ban all advertising and sponsoring, charge $20 for a pack of 30 smokes, and require them all to be Foster's-flavored   (news.com.au) divider line 136
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dixiedownunder 2009-07-04 06:54:12 PM  
They badmouth Fosters, but they'll pay more than $6 for imported Coronas at the pub!

 
Impudent Domain 2009-07-04 06:58:46 PM  
dixiedownunder Quote 2009-07-04 06:54:12 PM
They badmouth Fosters, but they'll pay more than $6 for imported Coronas at the pub!


Or as we call it here in Texas, Mexican Sweat.

 
ScottHimself 2009-07-04 07:04:26 PM  
Impudent Domain:
Or as we call it here in Texas, Mexican Sweat.


Excuse me, but a Corona with lime is damned good if you're already really gone and she pays for it.

 
FREDIOHEAD 2009-07-04 07:06:28 PM  
Sqube: //they'll come for unhealthy food eventually


Alcohol and unhealthy food will be next. If the government sees a reduction in health care cost, you can count on them coming for your beer and Big Macs.

 
Barbecue Bob 2009-07-04 07:16:21 PM  
FREDIOHEAD: Sqube: //they'll come for unhealthy food eventually


Alcohol and unhealthy foodThe air we breath will be next. If the government sees a reduction in health care cost,wants more money, you can count on them coming for your beer and Big Macsthe very air you breath.


/Government will survive anyway they have to and it's not about what's right or what's wrong.

 
Sqube 2009-07-04 07:23:33 PM  
Barbecue Bob: FREDIOHEAD: Sqube: //they'll come for unhealthy food eventually


Alcohol and unhealthy foodThe air we breath will be next. If the government sees a reduction in health care cost,wants more money, you can count on them coming for your beer and Big Macsthe very air you breath.

/Government will survive anyway they have to and it's not about what's right or what's wrong.


cdn2.maxim.com

PAY YOUR AIR TAX OR THIS COULD BE YOU!!!
/not nearly obscure

 
Florida Ed 2009-07-04 07:26:44 PM  
Cigarette prices just went up 7/1 - Marlboro's are six bucks a pack! You can still get some weird semi-pipe tobacco cigs for under $2 but I don't see that lasting.

Good thing I quit (again) recently.

 
Gordon Bennett 2009-07-04 07:34:53 PM  
img193.imageshack.us

Nothing is obscure on Fark.

 
jbernie 2009-07-04 07:38:09 PM  
Milos Hattrick: The federal government in Canada once tried to discourage smoking by putting high taxes on tobacco products. All it did was create a black market in cigarettes. There are times when it's best just to let people do stupid things.

though unlike Canada Australia doesn't have a large country with plentiful supplies that has multiple land border crossings. It all has to come in by boat or plane so it might pay more to join Australian customs and confiscate some of the contraband for yourself.

 
Jarhead_h 2009-07-04 07:39:26 PM  
Know who else tried to get rid of smoking?

img132.imageshack.us

 
whatshisname 2009-07-04 07:47:48 PM  
In Ontario now it's about $10 a pack, and stores have to keep them behind closed doors. You can't even display a cigarette pack.

 
farkin_Gary [TotalFark] 2009-07-04 07:49:28 PM  
Someday, we'll all look back on this and laugh.
.
.
.
We'll say:

"Remember back when there were politicians, lawyers and cops?"

Man, we'll be rolling on the ground in laughter, smoking cannabis next to our campfire.

That is, we'll be laughing and smoking until the stainless steel soldiers of The Administrative Accord wipe us out in an instant with their sonic disruptor beams. It's hard to laugh much once your brain has been jellied.

Silly humans, we always think we want what we want. Then the government tells us what we really want... and charges us a fee for the service.

i10.photobucket.com

 
Fano 2009-07-04 07:52:22 PM  
farkin_Gary: Someday, we'll all look back on this and laugh.
.
.
.
We'll say:

"Remember back when there were politicians, lawyers and cops?"

Man, we'll be rolling on the ground in laughter, smoking cannabis next to our campfire.

That is, we'll be laughing and smoking until the stainless steel soldiers of The Administrative Accord wipe us out in an instant with their sonic disruptor beams. It's hard to laugh much once your brain has been jellied.

Silly humans, we always think we want what we want. Then the government tells us what we really want... and charges us a fee for the service.



It's coming, citizen.
I must dissent (new window)

 
ggecko 2009-07-04 07:52:47 PM  
That works out to about $10.63 USD per pack of 20. About the same as pricing in NY....

 
farkin_Gary [TotalFark] 2009-07-04 08:02:13 PM  
Fano:

It's coming, citizen.
I must dissent (new window)


Thanks for that, Fano.

Now, I'm going outside for a smoke. I wouldn't want to deprive that lying bastard, Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle, of my share of the $600 million dollars he steals from us smokers every year.

i10.photobucket.com

 
Rib 2009-07-04 08:04:49 PM  
InuNoTaisho: 20 AUD is like, what, 3.00 USD? What's the big deal?

/I kid, I kid
//We have to get our money jokes in while we still can


They stopped working when your economy collapsed mate.

 
Gunny Walker 2009-07-04 08:07:45 PM  
Australia plans to make all cigarette wrapping generic,
Like Lucky Strike? (new window)
ban all advertising and sponsoring,
Does Lucky Strike have a website?
charge $20 for a pack of 30 smokes,
Enjoy your Lucky Strikes, New Yorker?
and require them all to be Foster's-flavored
I can smoke and get drunk at the same time? Great! cause the bars around here don't let me smoke anymore.

 
rdyb 2009-07-04 08:13:53 PM  
FTA: Under the changes, some of which were canvassed in a discussion paper released late last year, cigarette packets would be generic and plain, with larger graphic health warnings taking up about 90 per cent of the front and 100 per cent of the back.

F Denis Leary: It doesn't matter how big the warnings on the cigarettes are; you could have a black pack, with a skull and crossbones on the front, called TUMORS, and smokers would be around the block going, "I can't wait to get my hands on these farking things! I bet ya get a tumor as soon as you light up!"

Good luck with that, mates!

 
Zmog [TotalFark] 2009-07-04 08:22:57 PM  
rdyb: FTA: Under the changes, some of which were canvassed in a discussion paper released late last year, cigarette packets would be generic and plain, with larger graphic health warnings taking up about 90 per cent of the front and 100 per cent of the back.

F Denis Leary: It doesn't matter how big the warnings on the cigarettes are; you could have a black pack, with a skull and crossbones on the front, called TUMORS, and smokers would be around the block going, "I can't wait to get my hands on these farking things! I bet ya get a tumor as soon as you light up!"

Good luck with that, mates!


This is why I think the whole warning label idea is all wrong. If you want to smoke, go ahead and smoke, but now we take away your right to look cool doing it.

Instead of black warning labels in bold, omnious fonts, it should be law on that cigarettes are officially called "fairy sticks", that boxes and wrappings are colored pink, and that the cigs have the word PENIS printed on the side.

 
gadian [TotalFark] 2009-07-04 08:40:30 PM  
Yup, when cigarettes are illegal, who is going to allow the pot heads to smoke? Yet, you never see pot advocates advocating cigarettes. Thats some narrowmindedness right there.

 
Dodgeyaussie 2009-07-04 08:43:20 PM  
Good. The Farking things should be banned altogether.

 
678583 2009-07-04 08:50:29 PM  
Dodgeyaussie: Good. The Farking things should be banned altogether.

Agreed, cigarettes are dangerous and should be outlawed. Why don't people understand this? The government is just looking out for your best interests.

 
Sawatdee 2009-07-04 08:53:40 PM  
farm3.static.flickr.com

Cheers Mates

 
ScottHimself 2009-07-04 08:55:15 PM  
gadian: Yup, when cigarettes are illegal, who is going to allow the pot heads to smoke? Yet, you never see pot advocates advocating cigarettes. Thats some narrowmindedness right there.

Not that it has any effect whatsoever on our wonderfully greedy legislature, but cigarettes are significantly worse than what you're comparing them to.

 
Dodgeyaussie 2009-07-04 09:04:26 PM  
Sawatdee: Cheers Mates

Don't you know it's insanely cruel to tease an Aussie in the US with photo's like that?

 
olddinosaur 2009-07-04 09:15:46 PM  
I hope it happens next in America.

I handle a boat really well, it's only 90 miles to Cuba, and there are some places on the Florida Keys only the devil and I know about.

Besides, times are hard and I could use a little extra money.

 
PirateFreedom 2009-07-04 09:37:16 PM  
Dodgeyaussie: Good. The Farking things should be banned altogether.

As someone who doesn't smoke let me point out that you are a fool.
The sort of zero freedom or privacy, permanent prison society required to make prohibition work would be a nightmare.

 
Stay Cool Babylon 2009-07-04 09:47:22 PM  
Let's see here - the plan is to price smokers into defeat? That they'll by and large finally quit? Perhaps some will. Many if not most will simply find other ways to get their smokes. And if there is one thing I have learned, it's that governments are particularly effective at prohibiting illegal manufacture and sale of substances.
Cigarettes would be even more difficult to stem because it's something that you can do in public (at least outside). Because of this, short of crying, "Halt, citizen, while we inspect your packaging for the proper tax stamp!," you won't be able to do shiat to stop it.

One thing is certain, though: The days of bumming a cigarette are numbered. Unless you're a hot girl. In which case you can have my vehicle and apartment, too.

The true path to ridding society of tobacco is shame. That's currently heaped upon smokers like never before. That shame is the only thing that will force people to quit. When cigarettes are frowned upon as automatically as, say, walking down the street with a dead fetus, we'll make headway in the 'war on tobacco.'

 
Rock_Strongo 2009-07-04 09:53:53 PM  
I think they are ready up to $11 inNYC. Who can afford a habit like that in this city? That with the terrifying ads of late would be enough to make me stop.

 
AngryAngryHippo 2009-07-04 09:55:50 PM  
Sawatdee: Cheers Mates

Hideous crap.

Also, if any of you Yanks want to come here and liberate us from our retarded socialist government (Let's pay fat people to go to the gym! Let's censor the internet! Let's ban fast-food advertising!) please do so. Australia's population learnt how to bend over and take it up the ass from the authorities in the good old convict days, and have proven themselves increasingly adept at being controlled, tricked, bullied and exploited and still remain deluded that Australia is the greatest country in the world.

 
eclipse492 2009-07-04 10:00:42 PM  
I think the strategy is good. yes, black market ciggarettes will increase but only a small percentage of people will buy their ciggs 'under the table'

Making them illegal upfront will make people go nuts as it almost enforces an immediate quit, this way it encourages people to reduce smoking and quit, without being too sudden. if people continue to smoke and pay the price, thats their loss. If they turn to the black market, which will need a lot of time to form, it would be too much hassle. Other drugs etc people dont use like cigarettes. a pack a day of cigs is a lot harder to supply than the occasional bag of drugs.

its just making a bad thing harder to do!!

 
Emposter 2009-07-04 10:07:52 PM  
I dont understand why this has a scary tag.

 
Bexta 2009-07-04 10:16:04 PM  
I doubt this would happen.

Changing the packaging will do bugger all because ciggarettes aren't allowed to be displayed front on in most supermarkets, and aren't allowed to be showed at all in cartons.

The price will increase again, of course - because the government gets a share of the profit. The tobacco/alcohol industry is a HUGE drawcard for the government, neither will EVER become illegal.

 
microfiber pocketwatch 2009-07-04 10:17:56 PM  
Australia is getting really odd. Living next door to them means we get a lot of their news. I wonder if this is how Canada feels about the US? i.e vaguely embarrassed by our neighbor's shenanigans but glad we don't live there.

 
Retort [recently expired TotalFark] 2009-07-04 10:23:38 PM  
I'm honestly not surprised at nazi bans on narcotics, given that Austria also produced Hitler.

 
Nonesuch 2009-07-04 10:31:52 PM  
AngryAngryHippo: Sawatdee: Cheers Mates

Hideous crap.

Also, if any of you Yanks want to come here and liberate us from our retarded socialist government (Let's pay fat people to go to the gym! Let's censor the internet! Let's ban fast-food advertising!) please do so. Australia's population learnt how to bend over and take it up the ass from the authorities in the good old convict days, and have proven themselves increasingly adept at being controlled, tricked, bullied and exploited and still remain deluded that Australia is the greatest country in the world.



The scary thing is it doesn't matter which party we vote in either. Both the major parties want more and more restrictions.

 
Fano 2009-07-04 10:33:29 PM  
Nonesuch: AngryAngryHippo: Sawatdee: Cheers Mates

Hideous crap.

Also, if any of you Yanks want to come here and liberate us from our retarded socialist government (Let's pay fat people to go to the gym! Let's censor the internet! Let's ban fast-food advertising!) please do so. Australia's population learnt how to bend over and take it up the ass from the authorities in the good old convict days, and have proven themselves increasingly adept at being controlled, tricked, bullied and exploited and still remain deluded that Australia is the greatest country in the world.


The scary thing is it doesn't matter which party we vote in either. Both the major parties want more and more restrictions.


Some folks long for their shackles.

 
Retort [recently expired TotalFark] 2009-07-04 10:35:53 PM  
Nonesuch: AngryAngryHippo: Sawatdee: Cheers Mates

Hideous crap.

Also, if any of you Yanks want to come here and liberate us from our retarded socialist government (Let's pay fat people to go to the gym! Let's censor the internet! Let's ban fast-food advertising!) please do so. Australia's population learnt how to bend over and take it up the ass from the authorities in the good old convict days, and have proven themselves increasingly adept at being controlled, tricked, bullied and exploited and still remain deluded that Australia is the greatest country in the world.


The scary thing is it doesn't matter which party we vote in either. Both the major parties want more and more restrictions.


I was just musing today that no matter who you vote for in Australia, your governments are thoroughly farking dislikable. And it's not because I'm a New Zealander.

Instead of us joining you, how about we annex Australia and make it an NZ province?

 
madblader 2009-07-04 10:52:07 PM  
People still smoke? Let them die in peace.

 
daniellynn's real dad 2009-07-04 11:03:44 PM  
Retort:

Instead of us joining you, how about we annex Australia and make it an NZ province?


Deal. We could do with more hippy chicks.

 
krazie1 2009-07-04 11:07:03 PM  
Well that's one way to make the bottom 25% pay more in taxes with a progressive income tax.

Either make smoking illegal or leave it alone.

Should a government direct the market by heavily taxing some goods and not tax others?

 
sparkeyjames 2009-07-04 11:09:05 PM  
678583: Dodgeyaussie: Good. The Farking things should be banned altogether.

Agreed, cigarettes are dangerous and should be outlawed. Why don't people understand this? The government is just looking out for your best interests.


I represent the government we are going to put a camera in your bedroom. We believe that your doing something there that is unsafe for you so we want to make sure that your no longer doing it. Don't worry you'll hardly know it's there. 1984 anyone.

The only thing the government should do is put a warning label on it. Other than that stay the fark out of peoples lives.

 
spamdog [TotalFark] 2009-07-04 11:14:42 PM  
Wait, isn't the Labor party supposed to be the party of the working class? This will be a heavy hit to the poor working class.

What a joke. Kevin Rudd is a wanker.

 
Bexta 2009-07-04 11:32:41 PM  
I think the majority of us just wanted to see Howard out and didn't much care who replaced him

 
Lee451 2009-07-04 11:33:01 PM  
I live in Virginia, a state with one of the lowest tobacco taxes. I don't smoke but have seen generic cigs for less than $3.50/pack. I honestly do not pay enough attention to give an honest price. But $3.50 US is like, what? $10 Aussie? Contact me and I will gladly ship you all the cigs you want in exchange for Australian dollars (if you have nothing else of value, like, hot OZ chicks or hot kangaroo chicks).

I will give you a fair deal......

 
spamdog [TotalFark] 2009-07-04 11:38:03 PM  
Bexta: I think the majority of us just wanted to see Howard out and didn't much care who replaced him

Rudd may as well be Howard.

 
spamdog [TotalFark] 2009-07-04 11:39:38 PM  
Lee451: $3.50 US is like, what? $10 Aussie?

It's more like $7.90

 
Alf_Garnett 2009-07-04 11:39:54 PM  
jbernie: Milos Hattrick: The federal government in Canada once tried to discourage smoking by putting high taxes on tobacco products. All it did was create a black market in cigarettes. There are times when it's best just to let people do stupid things.

though unlike Canada Australia doesn't have a large country with plentiful supplies that has multiple land border crossings. It all has to come in by boat or plane so it might pay more to join Australian customs and confiscate some of the contraband for yourself.


You're right. In the early 90s when Canada tried high cigarette taxes, people smuggled them in from the U.S. Now the smugglers are in the U.S. and get their supplies from the indian reservations and Mexico.

I'd say it's a certainty that people in Australia are already stockpiling tobacco seeds.

 
Bexta 2009-07-04 11:45:15 PM  
spamdog: Bexta: I think the majority of us just wanted to see Howard out and didn't much care who replaced him

Rudd may as well be Howard.


Well yeah, I think people are realising that now. But it doesn't matter who else comes up in the next election, it's never ever going to be any different

 
jev2vulcan 2009-07-04 11:53:22 PM  
wildcardjack: gave up: Let us know if you see a slight rise in smuggling..

Are you kidding? I'm already trying to figure a racket involving robotic crocodiles to smuggle cigs inland.

Only feasible now that Steve Irwin isn't going to try to find the cloaca on the robot.


maybe you can train the dingos to meet up with the robotic crocs
and run the smokes further inland :)

 
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