Senate passes tobacco bill without opposition support

The Senate on Wednesday passed the controversial Tobacco Control Bill after a marathon debate and several hours of discussions at the committee stage.

When the vote was taken the six opposition members voted against it as well as one independent senator. Another independent senator, Dana Seetahal, was absent for the vote.

The final vote was 22 senators for the bill, none against and seven abstaining.

The House of Representatives will debate the bill on Friday.

The most contentious section of the bill was a clause prohibiting the sale of single cigarettes and a harsh penalty of a fine of $12,000 and a six-month jail term.

The committee agreed to include the fine in regulations accompanying the bill and to delete the jail term which Independent senator Helen Drayton called “unconscionable” since it sought to jail a vendor for selling a single cigarette.

Drayton did accept the argument that a prison term would be at the discretion of the presiding magistrate. She insisted that the bill must not “criminalise” vendors for selling single cigarettes.

The Government’s amendment to the single cigarette clause demands that manufacturers package single cigarettes with the appropriate health warnings. That means it would still be illegal to sell "open" smokes from a package.