Craig Kelly (Hughes, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Excise Tariff Amendment (Tobacco) Bill 2014 and the Customs Tariff Amendment (Tobacco) Bill 2014. It is an honour for me to stand here, following speeches from two medical doctors on our side, Dr Andrew Southcott and Dr David Gillespie, and listen to their learned comments about the dangers and the health risks of smoking, which of course we all know. I note that Dr Andrew Laming, another medical doctor who sits with the government, was also due to speak on this bill but, due to a family issue, he has been unable to. Those two doctors detailed the evils of smoking and why we as a government must take proactive steps to reduce the rate of smoking in this country.

These bills actually implement a revenue-raising measure which the coalition inherited from the previous Labor government. The first increase in the cost of a packet of cigarettes under this bill has already taken effect; it took effect on 1 December last year. If we are looking at a standard pack of Winfield 25s, the excise increase that applied at 1 December last year was $1.23 and it took the average retail price for a packet of Winfield's up to $19.14. There are another three increases in excise under this bill. By 1 September 2016, this bill will have added an extra $6.45 to a standard packet of Winfield 25s, taking the average price, not even allowing for some inflation, close to $26 per packet.

This bill is a revenue-raising measure and it does raise significant revenue for the Commonwealth. In this financial year alone, 2013-14, it will be a net underlying cash benefit to the Commonwealth of $370 million. By 2016-17, this bill will have provided a benefit to the Commonwealth bottom line of $2.19 billion. On top of that, the state governments will also benefit because they will receive an increase in their GST revenue.

Going back to those rather remarkable tax raises, we have to remember that these have already been factored into the budget and are already factored into the forward estimates. Despite these very large increases in revenue, we are still facing the situation that, by the end of the forward estimates period, unless remedial action is taken, this nation will be $667 billion in debt.

This is also a regressive tax. We have to be honest with the people of Australia and admit that this will actually harm the lowest socioeconomic groups in the country—

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