tobacco donates $1.7m to coalition since 2004, page-2

Of course the key issue is about effective policies, not political grandstanding and desperate attempts to create yet another timewasting diversion from the myriad of gillard policy disasters, backflips and outright election lies...



"Mr Abbott brushed aside questions about tobacco industry donations, saying the Government was trying to distract people from more important issues.

"I think the Labor Party is trying to change the subject from the carbon tax. I think that's what they're trying to do," he told a press conference in Melbourne.

"We are happy to support policy that can be demonstrated to work, and it's up to the Government to show why they think this policy is going to work."

He earlier defended his record on tobacco as health minister, saying he took "a lot of measures" to encourage people to quit.

"We put graphic warnings on cigarette packets and got the smoking rate down from 21 per cent to 17 per cent," he told ABC radio.

He said the Government's plain packaging plan is flawed.

"My fear about this is that it will turn out to be counter-productive like so much this government does," he said."