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  • 5/31/2025
It's been more than a decade since 'plain packaging' was introduced for all tobacco products in Australia. Yet smoking remains the leading cause of preventable deaths in the country. And, despite some of the world's strictest controls on the sale of all tobacco products, you can still buy a pack of smokes with your milk and bread. Now, on 'world no tobacco day' - advocates are urging Australia’s major supermarkets to stop selling them all together.

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00:00It's a story shared by a generation.
00:05I started smoking when I was 13.
00:07I probably tried it for the first time when I was about 11.
00:10When Sarah Waters was a teenager, smoking was all the rage.
00:15But once she started, she quickly realised she couldn't stop.
00:19It wasn't until I was 16 that they brought in regulations
00:22and by that stage I was well and truly addicted.
00:24It took her 27 years to quit.
00:27Part of the reason they were so easy to get a hold of.
00:31The opportunities to access cigarettes
00:34continues to be a major reason why people remain addicted.
00:39Now VAERS calls for a further crackdown.
00:41The Lung Foundation wants to ban the sale of tobacco products
00:45at our major supermarkets.
00:47And putting profit ahead of the community's health
00:50is something that the Foundation is asking
00:52all good corporate citizens to reconsider.
00:56You shouldn't necessarily be thinking of cigarettes as this normal product
00:59you get in the same place as your milk and your bread.
01:01But there's concern tightening access could further feed
01:05the growing illegal tobacco trade.
01:08This isn't talking about a ban. They're not becoming illegal.
01:11We're just trying to put a delay, a buffer,
01:13between the urge to have a smoke
01:15and the actual purchase and usage of the smoke.
01:17The Federal Government says it passed legislation in 2023
01:22to reignite the fight against tobacco,
01:25upping public messaging around its use,
01:28but wouldn't comment if it would support banning cigarettes
01:31from major supermarkets.
01:33In a statement, Coles said it complies with all laws
01:37aimed at minimising the health effects of tobacco use,
01:40but recognises the need to provide choice to those customers
01:44who wish to purchase these products legally.
01:47Woolworths was contacted but did not respond.
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