Summary:  Australia implemented their current health warnings policy starting March 1, 2006. Health warnings are required to cover 30% of  the front and 90% of the back of all cigarette packages. Overall, 60% of the package space is appropriated to health warnings, which ranks as the most in the world, along with New Zealand. Seven health warnings are rotated on cigarette packages and a different set of seven warnings are rotated annually. Australia also prohibits the terms "light" and "mild" from appearning on packages. As well, Australia requires one descriptive message on emissions and constituents on the side of packages.

Label Images

Click on the links below to access Australia's Health Warnings and Constituent Messages Galleries

Australia's Health Warnings Gallery

Australia's Constituent Messages Gallery

Legislation and Regulations

Listed below are documents relating to the implementation and regulation of picture-based health warnings in Australia, which came into effect in 2006.

Trade Practices (Consumer Product Information Standards) (Tobacco) Regulations 2004 (2004)

Trade Practices (Consumer Product Information Standards) (Tobacco) Regulations (Trade Practices Act 1974) Regulation Impact Statement (2004)

Health Warnings Documents

A review of evidence on the effectiveness of text and pictoral warnings for Australia is listed below.

Smokers' Understandings of Cigarette Yield Labels (Medical Jour of Australia - Chapman et al.)
Australia
1986  

New Cigarette-Packet Warnings Are They Getting Through (Medical Jour of Australia - Hill Editorial)
Australia
1988  

Initial Impact of the New Australian Tobacco Health Warnings on Knowledge and Belief (Tob. Control - Borland, Hill)
Australia
1997  

The Path to Australia's Tobacco Health (Addiction - Borland, Hill)
Australia
1997  

Evaluation of the Health Warnings and Explanatory Health Messages on Tobacco Products (Government Report)
Australia
2000

Evaluation of the Health Warnings and Explanatory Messages on Tobacco Products (Government Report)
Australia
2000

Review of Health Warnings on Tobacco Products in Australia (Government report)
Australia
2001  

Developmental Research for New Australian Health Warnings on Tobacco Products Stage 1 (Government report)
Australia
2002

My Pack is Cuter Than Your Pack (Tobacco Control - Wakefield and Letcher)
Australia
2002

Cost-Benefit Analysis of Proposed New Health Warnings on Tobacco Products (Government report)
Australia
2003

Developmental Research for New Australian Health Warnings on Tobacco Products Stage 2 (Government Report)

Australia

2003

''Avoid Health Warnings On All Tobacco Products For Just As Long As We Can'': A History of Australian Tobacco Industry Efforts to Avoid, Delay and Dilute Health Warnings on Cigarettes (Tobacco Control - Chapman and Carter)
Australia
2004

Effectiveness of Cigarette Warning Labels in Informing Smokers About the Risks of Smoking ITC-4 (Tobacco Control - Hammond et al.)
Australia
2006

Tobacco Industry Smoking Prevention Advertisements' Impact on Youth Motivation for Smoking in the Future (SMQ - Donovan et al.)
Australia
2006

Text and Graphic Warnings on Cigarette Packages ITC-4 (Am J Prev Med - Hammond et al.)
Australia
2007

How Does Increasingly Plainer Cigarette Packaging Influence Adult Smokers' Perceptions About Brand Image? An Experimental Study (Tob Control - Wakefield, Germain, and Durkin)
Australia
2008

Do Graphic Health Warning Labels Have an Impact on Adolescents' Smoking-related Beliefs and Behaviours? (Addiction - White et al.)
Australia
2008

Evaluation of the Effectiveness of the Graphic Health Warnings on Tobacco Product Packaging 2008 Full Report (Government Report)
Australia
2009

Evaluation of the Effectiveness of the Graphic Health Warnings on Tobacco Product Packaging 2008 Executive Summary (Government Report)
Australia
2009

Impact on the Australian Quitline of New Graphic Cigarette Pack Warnings Including the Quitline Number (Tob Control - Miller et al.)
Australia
2009

Public Health Value of Disclosed Cigarette Ingredients and Emissions Data (Government Report)
Australia
2009

Constituent & Emissions Labelling

A review of evidence on the labelling and disclosure of chemicals found in tobacco products for Australia is listed below

Relationship Between Constituent Labelling and Reporting (Jour of Public Health - O'Connor et al.)
Australia
2006

Prohibitions on Misleading Information

A review of evidence on the prohibition of deceptive and misleading information on Australian tobacco products is listed below.

The Case For the Plain Packaging of Tobacco Products (Addiction - Freeman et al.)
Australia
2008