Tornado Alley (PROG)

[fuagf]

Yup, it might deter some, and is a step in the right direction .. Australia is presently headed toward
no brand recognition .. all cigarettes in the same package .. light green i think it is supposed to be.

Bottom line, i think, the biggest deterrent in the end is cost .. oops .. olive ..

Big Tobacco to fight on over plain packaging plan for cigarettes

Jared Owens
From: The Australian
April 11, 2011 12:00AM

THE tobacco industry will take its fight over plain packaging to the Federal Court, after a tribunal affirmed the government's right to withhold the secret legal advice authorising the plan.

British American Tobacco has confirmed to The Australian it will appeal against an Administrative Appeals Tribunal ruling refusing the company access to the Keating-era document on the grounds of legal professional and parliamentary privilege.

Under the plan, unveiled by federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon on Thursday, all cigarette packets will be olive-coloured and emblazoned with confronting images of diseased organs.

The secret advice, prepared by the Attorney-General's Department in 1995, details the government's constitutional powers to implement plain packaging, and canvasses possible legal hurdles such as international trade rules and intellectual property rights.

Related Coverage .. links inside ..

Court lifts smokes screen The Australian, 7 Jun 2011
Tobacco pleads for pack delay The Australian, 7 Jun 2011
Cigarette packaging appeal expedited The Australian, 7 Jun 2011
Coalition mum on tobacco donations The Australian, 27 May 2011
Minister blasts Big Tobacco The Australian, 18 May 2011

British American Tobacco Australia and Philip Morris last year requested access to the document using Freedom of Information laws, but were rebuffed by the Department of Health and Ageing. The companies dragged the department to the tribunal in November, but were defeated last week.

BATA spokesman Ian McIntyre said: "Given the government is continuing to try to hide this advice, unfortunately BATA has little choice but to appeal this decision (to the Federal Court)."

Successive governments have kept the document a closely guarded secret, sharing it only with their hand-picked tobacco advisory groups. The only public record of the document is a one-paragraph summary provided by the Howard government to the Senate in 1997.

Arguing their case before the tribunal in November, the tobacco companies claimed the governments had waived their legal professional privilege by sharing the document with advisory groups.

The tribunal disagreed, with senior member Francis O'Loughlin concluding that the advisers "would have been obliged to observe and maintain the confidential nature of the advice".

The tribunal also found the advice was protected by the Parliamentary Privilege Act, since the 1997 summary formed part of "proceedings in parliament".

The Keating government rejected plain packaging in 1995, saying it would require an "unfeasible" buy-up of the tobacco companies' trademarks.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/big-tobacco-to-fight-on-over-plain-packaging-plan-for-cigarettes/story-fn59niix-1226036878125

olive .. dat's da good oil .. :)