Opposition leader Bill Shorten confirmed on Tuesday morning his government would go after Australia's more than 2.5 million smokers, raising the taxes on cigarettes in an effort to make more people quit.

"Around 2.5 million Australians smoke every day – this is just too high. I want to stop young people taking up smoking and I want more people to quit smoking," he said in a statement.

Cigarettes in Australia are already quite expensive, costing about $25 per packet. Under the plan the tobacco tax excise of 12.5% would be applied every year until 2020, seeing the price blow out to $40.