Coles under fire over cheap cigarettes

MARK COLVIN: The supermarket giant Coles is under fire for selling cheap imported cigarettes. The retailer is selling the so-called budget cigarettes for around $11 a pack. That's about $4 cheaper than many other brands.

Anti-smoking advocates have described the action as irresponsible. Now there are calls for the Government to introduce a minimum price for tobacco.

Lindy Kerin reports.

EXCERPT FROM COLES TV ADVERTISEMENT: Prices are down at Coles.

LINDY KERIN: That's one of the supermarket chain's recent television ads.

(Singing: "Down, down, prices are down")

But it's the low price of one particular product that's drawn attention to the retailer and that's cigarettes. Coles has been importing cigarettes from Europe and selling them as a cheaper alternative to many other brands.

The Federal Health Minister, Nicola Roxon, says she's disappointed.

NICOLA ROXON: We know that if we change the price more people give up smoking. That's why the Government has taken some very dramatic steps in increasing the excise on tobacco. So I'm disappointed that this is a step that's been taken.

LINDY KERIN: The Federal Government announced a 25 per cent tax rise on cigarettes in April. Anti-smoking advocates say the sale of so-called budget cigarettes is counter-productive.

Simon Chapman is a professor of public health at the University of Sydney.

SIMON CHAPMAN: Coles isn't in the business of promoting public health, it's in the business of making money and of course the price of tobacco products is major, the major determinant of consumption, which is why tobacco retailers have engaged in price discounting since Adam was a boy.


So no-one should be surprised at this. The most productive discussion is what we can do about it and if the Government wants to preserve the integrity of its 25 per cent tax rise, that it introduced earlier, it ought to introduce a price floor so that cigarettes should be sold below a certain price.

LINDY KERIN: Professor Chapman says the community needs to discuss what that minimum price should be. And he says Coles needs to reconsider its actions.

SIMON CHAPMAN: For a long time Coles has been one of the biggest supporters of Daffodil Day, the Cancer Council's collection, biggest collection day for cancer. I mean they can't really have it both ways, and I think that they ought to look at the mirror long and hard about this, and I think that the Cancer Council ought to think about this as well.

LINDY KERIN: But the Cancer Council's CEO, Professor Ian Olver, says breaking the arrangement with Coles is not on the agenda at this stage.

IAN OLVER: Look it's the Coles customers that give to the Cancer Council Australia, particularly at Daffodil Day and we're certainly not going to discourage the customers from doing that but we are, we certainly will talk to Coles about this tobacco issue.

LINDY KERIN: Professor Olver agrees that new laws are needed to set a minimum price for cigarettes as a way to reduce smoking rates.

The Protecting Children from Tobacco Coalition is a national group of health and child welfare organisations. It says the rate of smoking among teenagers has been dropping. But the coordinator, Stafford Sanders, says $11 a packet is within reach of many young people.

STAFFORD SANDERS: We know that a lot of kids, you know, will buy cigarettes if they're, if they are cheaper and we know that a lot of kids under 18 are getting cigarettes directly from shops. So, you know, this has got to be seen as a significant factor. It's really a bit irresponsible for a major retailer to try to be pushing cigarettes at low cost to people, knowing that the people who are most likely to be influenced by that are probably the most vulnerable people in our community.

LINDY KERIN: Nobody from Coles was available for an interview with PM but in a statement the retailer has denied it's been importing cheap cigarettes to circumvent the federal tax hike. It says it first started selling the cigarettes in November last year.

It says despite some claims the cigarettes have not set a new low price in the market and are instead comparably priced with a number of other discount cigarette lines.

MARK COLVIN: Lindy Kerin.

Bạn cảm thấy thỏa mãn với những bài học trong blog. Hãy tặng một click trên những quảng cáo ở mục "Donate". Thank You!