Fairfax newspapers have been informed of a licencing scheme, which anti-smoking campaigners believe could see the imposition of a smoking ban within 10 to 15 years.

However, Health Minister Nicola Roxon told Network Ten today, the government has no such plans, not being a part of its policy, though it was understandable why public health advocates kept wanting to keep pushing boundaries.

But, the Gillard government was already trying to break new ground, by introducing the world’s first plain packaging for cigarettes from mid-2012, with a big fight on Labour’s hands, on that front alone.

She said a smoking ban was not a logical way to conclude the government’s anti-smoking policies, and if tobacco were to come on the market today as a brand new product, it wouldn’t be considered legal, but the fact is that is has been a legal product for many years, now.

Therefore, the government, she said was focused on coming down hard on branded packs, big tobacco’s last remaining method of advertising.

The Health Minister also took a crack at Tony Abbot, Opposition Leader, who is acting as the parliamentary arm of the industry for being indecisive and sitting on the fence, over the matter of pushing for plain packaging.

‘He’s finding it very difficult to say no to big tobacco and the question has to be if the millions of dollars of donations are affecting is judgment,’ Roxon said.