Photo: © 2010 AP via AAP/Gerry Broome

But smokers will notice the government's latest crackdown on smoking as soon as tomorrow, with the cigarette excise jumping by more than $2 per pack at midnight.

The twin attack on tobacco is part of a plan to cut the national smoking rate from 19 per cent to below 10 per cent.
 
The head of the government's Preventative Health Taskforce, Professor Rob Moodie, says cigarette packaging is the "last bastion" of tobacco promotion.

''The evidence around this is good, in terms of peoples' intention to smoke, their attraction to smoke,'' he told ABC Radio.

''If you have labels like smooth or gold or silver, they are always perceived to be significantly less harmful.''

And the move has been hailed as "nothing short of a triumph for health promotion and chronic disease prevention" in an opinion piece in today's Sydney Morning Herald.

While the Opposition has slammed it as a political distraction, it has the support of the minor parties and independents needed to pass it through the Senate.

The tobacco industry is outraged and is threatening legal action. 

"Introducing plain packaging just takes away the ability of a consumer to identify our brand from another brand - and that's of value to us," a spokeswoman for Imperial Tobacco Australia told ABC Radio.

"It really affects the value of our business as a commercial enterprise and we will fight to support protecting our international property rights."

Intellectual property expert, Tim Wilson, has warned the government it faces a $3 billion compensation bill if it goes ahead with the packaging plan.