In the first half of 2025 there will be significant changes to the tobacco products sold in Australia due to new tobacco laws. These changes will reduce the appeal of cigarettes and other tobacco products, ensure the harms of smoking are clear, and help make it easier for people to quit.
In 2025, tobacco products will:
- taste and feel different – certain ingredients, flavours (including menthol, rum and clove) and accessories (including crush balls) will be banned. These mask the harshness of tobacco, make it more addictive, easier to smoke and harder to quit.
- have different names – words like ‘smooth’ and names like ‘gold’ that can falsely suggest some products are less harmful will be removed.
- be consistent in size – each cigarette pack will have 20 sticks, filtered or little cigar packs will have 20 cigars, and roll-your-own pouches will have 30 grams of tobacco. Each cigarette carton must have 10 packs.
- be consistent in shape and filter – each cigarette stick will be the same length and width. Unique filters will be banned.
- have new health information and support to quit – updated product warnings and health messages will be applied to packaging and products. New information cards inside packaging will help support people to quit.
These changes may mean some products will no longer be available.
Changes come into full effect on 1 July 2025, but people may start to see these changes in store before this date.
Tobacco smoking is the leading cause of preventable death in Australia. It is estimated to kill more than 24,000 Australians each year. This means one person dies from smoking every 22 minutes.
Many Australians who smoke want to quit but struggle with nicotine addiction. These changes will help more Australians to quit smoking and stay quit – and stop people from starting in the first place.
The changes do not reduce the health risk of smoking. No tobacco product or level of smoking is safe, and all tobacco is addictive.
There is support available to help quit smoking and vaping. Talk to a health professional, call the Quitline on 13 7848, visit quit.org.au or download the free My QuitBuddy app from the Apple App Store or Google Play.
Find out more about these changes at health.gov.au/tobacco-control.