Health minister powerless against cigarette stickers

Federal Health Minister Tanya Plibersek says she cannot do anything to stop stickers being placed on plain-packed cigarettes. Ms Plibersek, however, says she is confident the stickers will not undermine the Government's efforts to reduce smoking rates. The Government's plain packaging laws came into effect just over a month ago. But it has also been a month since a Queensland company launched the stickers, which are designed to cover the plain packets and are marked with the slogan "It's your box, it's your choice". The Department of Health said at the time it would investigate the practice, but Ms Plibersek says it is difficult to stop people covering their cigarette packets once they have been purchased. However, she says such moves show the strength of the plain packaging laws. "When they do that we know the reason they're doing that is because they're disturbed by the graphic health warnings," she said. Ms Plibersek says there are early anecdotal signs that the plain packaging laws have been a success. The Government has received 15 complaints about shops that were bucking plain packaging laws and continuing to sell branded cigarettes. "Smaller shops were selling out the end of their branded products," Ms Plibersek said. "All of those shops, when they were contacted and told they're non-compliant, have become compliant and taking that educative approach has worked so far in every instance."