The price of cigarettes has risen again with a 12.5 per cent hike in the tobacco excise making Australian cigarettes one of the most expensive of the world.

The tobacco excise will increase again in 2020 with one health official estimating the average pack-a-day smoker will now spend $10,000 a year.

Experts have said the tax hikes are likely to see Australians pay $40 a packet by next year.

But the University of Sydney’s Emeritus Professor in the School of Public Health Simon Chapman tells John Stanley people are not smoking as much any more.

“If you look at a graph of the average number of cigarettes smoked… when I first started in this game it used to be about 20 cigarettes a day, now it’s down to 11.”

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