Tobacco Firms Fund Anti-Labor ad Campaign

Source from:  The Daily Telegraph 08/04/2010

Australian tobacco industry will secretly fund a $5 million anti-Labor advertising blitz cooked up with the help of Liberal Party strategists for the final two weeks of the campaign. The unprecedented election attack ads over tobacco plain packaging are being fronted by a US-style retailers group registered only last week with the Australian Securities Commission and dubbed the Alliance of Australian Retailers. However, the campaign has been devised by former Howard government advisers and Liberal Party strategists and is being almost entirely funded by the tobacco industry. Starting this weekend, a series of full-page ads are planned to be placed in newspapers, followed by television ads accusing Labor of allegedly adding to people's cost of living. Specifically they will attack Labor's proposed laws on plain packaging for tobacco products. Tobacco industry insiders believe the Coalition would not pursue the proposed ban, despite Opposition Leader Tony Abbott claiming in April that he would not block the Government's legislation - which is still before Parliament. A spokesman for Opposition health spokesman Peter Dutton said the issue of plain packaging was something "we would look at in government, if elected". The tobacco industry's involvement and the involvement of Liberal Party operatives could hurt Mr Abbott. The bulk of the $5 million campaign is being funded by tobacco giants British American Tobacco and Philip Morris. Sources claimed that the Liberal Party's election pollsters and advisers, Crosby Textor are the architects of the research behind the campaign. The directors, Mark Textor and Lynton Crosby, did not return calls last night.Both British American Tobacco and Philip Morris are major donors to the Liberal Party having contributed about $2.5 million to Liberal coffers over the past 10 years. British American Tobacco is also a client of Crosby Textor. One of the masterminds of the campaign is former Howard government adviser Mark Domitrak, now head of corporate affairs at British American Tobacco and a former Crosby Textor strategist. Another former Howard adviser involved in the campaign, Chris Argent, now Philip Morris corporate affairs director, confirmed the industry was backing the campaign. "We are supporting the efforts of the alliance in calling for the Government to abandon the plain packaging," he said last night. Enditem