A joint association of big and small scale tobacco traders has come together to barrage ministers with claims regarding a ban on the display of cigarettes on store shelves to be coming up soon. They say that this will initiate a sudden rise in illegal sales and crime along with making lots of legitimate traders go out of business.

This action has come as a result of a ban on behind-the-counter show up of cigarettes which is about to be released forcefully for supermarkets starting October next year and for some smaller stores almost two years after that.

The new guidelines are a past of the last line of anti-smoking regulations which was pushed in recent years through the health lobby along with the backing of the Labor government. Several other steps have been decided including a ban on smoking in public places, ban on advertising of the product and also using more elaborate images on cigarette packs.

The traders of tobacco have opposed this new string of rules and regulations as a direct attack on civil liberties.