Plain packaging ploy likely to go up in smoke

The risk of having to compensate tobacco companies with taxpayers' dollars is objectionable not just legally but morally.

The Rudd government also has shown contempt for parliament, given that the Senate's community affairs committee is investigating the legality and efficacy of a plain packaging bill, with submissions due today and the committee set to report in August.

Now these submissions and the recommendations of the parliamentary inquiry may as well be thrown on the junk heap.

It's clear that the objective of Rudd and Roxon's announcement is to distract public attention from the government's numerous policy backflips during the past week.

But this smokescreen is unlikely to be effective.

The tobacco tax hike, effective from midnight, is supposed to discourage new smokers from taking up the dirty habit and encourage existing smokers to quit, while funding the Rudd government's new federal hospital plan.

But collecting an additional $5bn in tobacco taxes is inconsistent with the objective of trying to get smokers to stop paying those taxes.

The Rudd government's tobacco tax increases appear to be a repeat of its failed alcopops tax. When it introduced the alcopops tax last year, it claimed it was designed to discourage consumption of the beverages, but the government's additional tax calculations were based on consumption continuing unchanged.

Considering the facts, it's hardly surprising that many Australians are looking at the government's plain packaging plan and tobacco tax grab as a distraction that is quickly going up in smoke.