Jan McLucas (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities and Carers) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you for the question. The answer to the assertion you made in your question is: no. The government is committed to reducing the national smoking rate to 10 per cent of the population by 2018, and halving the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander rate. Plain packaging will remove one of the last remaining forms of tobacco advertising. It will restrict industry logos, brand imagery, colours and promotional text. As I said in my summing up speech, following delays to parliamentary consideration of the bill and to ensure that there is sufficient time for the industry to comply before the penalty provisions commence, the government proposed these amendments to the commencement provisions of the bill.

As I said, I have gone through the extensions of time. I think you understand those. It was simply the delay in getting this legislation into this chamber that necessitated a change to the timetable for implementation.