The end justifying the means !

The Federal government is jumping in the deep end without a life preserver with it's anti-smoking legislation.   It seems to be hoping that the health issue will persuade the High court to ignore legal precedent and adopt an attitude that in this case " the end justifies the means ".

The requirement that tobacco be presented in drab coloured packaging containing vivid health warning examples means that recognisable brands cease to exist.  The smoker is simply buying " cigarettes " - rather than " Benson and Hedges ", " Marlboro " or whatever brand he or she favours.   The tobacco industry has spent billions creating legions of brand customers and they are unlikely to walk away without fighting this issue to the bitter end.

It is certain that some smart lawyer will suggest to the court that finding favour with the government case would open an appalling precedent.   Just suppose an election delivered a Federal balance of power to an independent who was a fanatic on the subjects of pollution reduction and accident deaths.  Suppose this person decreed that General Motors, Ford, Toyota and Mitsubishi be prevented from badging their vehicles - and in fact by this same law they were prevented from allowing any visual difference by way of design.   All their products would be identical in appearance - and just to make them less attractive - bright, shiny colours would be banned and they would all be presented in a dull grey colour.

The rationale would be that this was for the public good.   If cars were less attractive, fewer people would buy them, and therefore pollution caused by cars would decrease - and there would be the added bonus of fewer road deaths because of fewer cars.

There seems to be a certain similarity between this piece of nonsense and the recently passed tobacco legislation.   The government is tippy toeing through a minefield.   About twenty percent of the population smokes, so the backlash is considered too great to slap a total ban on nicotine.   At the same time, tobacco farming is a big item of agriculture in northern NSW and Queensland - and while government deplores tobacco deaths - it readily grabs the huge inflow of  tax from sale of the product.

The likely outcome of this new law is years of litigation in the courts - which will cost both the government and big tobacco a lot of money - and probably an unfavourable outcome for the government, similar to the Malaysian migrant deal.

The law is very specific on legal precedent - and this piece of legislation relies heavily on the end justifying the means !