The Australian Capital Territory and Tasmanian Governments have done more than any of their counterparts to control smoking and encourage people to kick the killer habit, jointly earning themselves the National Tobacco Scoreboard Award for 2014. AMA President, Dr Steve Hambleton, presented the National Tobacco Scoreboard Award to representatives from AMA ACT and AMA Tasmania at the Australian Medical Association’s National Conference in Canberra today. The annual Award, which is in its 20th year, is conducted jointly by the AMA and the Australian Council on Smoking and Health (ACOSH) to put a spotlight on the progress governments have made in the past 12 months to control tobacco. Dr Hambleton commended the ACT and Tasmanian governments for making outstanding progress in recent years, saying both governments merited a high commendation for the improvements they had made in tobacco control legislation and investment. The Scoreboard allocates points to each State and Territory across a number of categories to reflect how effective governments have been in combating smoking in the preceding year. Dr Hambleton said both the ACT and Tasmanian governments had shown a strong commitment to tobacco control. “The ACT Government has recently released a discussion paper considering limiting the number of retailer licences, restricting hours of cigarette sales and a substantial increase in license fees to sell tobacco,” Dr Steve Hambleton said. “The ACT has excellent legislation that addresses exposure to passive smoking as well as comprehensive legislation on restrictions on tobacco marketing. “Tasmania has been commended for the second consecutive year for continuing their strong, comprehensive program to address the high prevalence of smoking in the State, including a new media campaign to complement strong legislation addressing passive smoking. “The Tasmanian Government has introduced legislation which, in some respects, is the best in Australia in banning smoking in enclosed public places and workplaces, as well as outdoor and partly-enclosed public places, public transport waiting areas, and smoking in work vehicles.” Dr Hambleton said he hoped that the strong message sent to governments with the National Tobacco Scoreboard Award and the Dirty Ashtray Award would accelerate efforts to stamp out smoking and encourage people to give up the killer habit. All states and territories have been graded in order of achievement, or lack thereof, in the summary below. 23 May 2014 CONTACT: John Flannery 02 6270 5477 / 0419 494 761 Odette Visser 02 6270 5464 / 0427 209 753 Follow all the action at the AMA National Conference on Twitter: #amanc14 Follow the AMA Media on Twitter: http://twitter.com/ama_media Follow the AMA President on Twitter: http://twitter.com/amapresident