‘All for it’: Why non-smokers are backing Pauline Hanson’s push for $22 cigarettes
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson is proposing a significant reduction in tobacco excise to lower cigarette prices to $22, aiming to dismantle the black market. A survey suggests that many non-smokers support the move as a way to combat organized crime, despite the policy's controversial nature.
Why it matters
The proposal highlights the tension between public health anti-smoking initiatives and the economic reality of organized crime-driven black markets.
Exclusive Australia Money ‘All for it’: Why non-smokers are backing Pauline Hanson’s push for $22 cigarettes Maddison Skipper August 21, 2026 - 8.54pm
shares Share article Exclusive: Half of nine.com.au readers are in favour Pauline Hanson’s plan to slash the price of cigarettes to about $22 a pack, including a surprising number of non-smokers who wouldn’t save a single dollar if it passed.
Earlier this week One Nation revealed a radical new tobacco policy which would cut the tobacco excise by 75 per cent and pause indexation for three years.
Pauline Hanson is all for slashing the cost of cigarettes. Luca Marino
If passed in full, it would slash the price of a $46.50 packet of legal cigarettes to about $22.
A nine.com.au reader survey of nearly 1200 Australians revealed that one in four were opposed to Hanson’s proposal, and the same proportion felt neutral about it.
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