Source: International Business Times
Date: 2010-06-15

A pack of 25-stick cigarettes would soon cost smokers $14 and
they have the Senate to thank for as the chamber passed and
formalised on Tuesday the Rudd government\'s earlier decision to
raise cigarette excise tax.

The coalition also put its stamp of approval on the measure with
Liberal Senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells expressing optimism
that the move should lessen the long-term pressure on hospital
and health care services.

She told parliament that the coalition "would continue this
commitment to the Australian people when elected at the next
election." . . .

For her part, Greens Senator Rachel Siewert called on the
government to swing more focus on the most vulnerable groups of
smokers, which includes aborigines and Torres Strait islanders
who smoked at twice the rate of the rest of the population.

She suggested that a fraction of the revenue to be generated must
be set aside for those who are planning to quit the habit and
also for discouraging those who are considering to take it up.