Tasmania currently holds the unwanted distinction as the cigarette epicentre of Australia and if state authorities would have their way, they would want not only to erase that image but also to create a generation of non-smoking Tasmanians.

Independent state legislator Ivan Dean aims to push further tobacco firms out of the Tasmanian market following the decision last week by the Australian High Court that affirmed the federal government's plain packaging laws.

The measures would be in full swing December 1 this year.

And Mr Dean is hopeful that around the same time, cigarette products in the state will be out of reach for residents that were born after the year 2000, based on the unanimous vote that proposal has attracted Tuesday night.

The same move would also want to trim down the number of licensed tobacco sellers in the state.

Actually, the sale prohibition will be applicable to teenagers that will turn 18 six years from now so cigarette retailers will still enjoy a considerable breathing room before another regulatory intervention makes life difficult for them.

But for Mr Dean, the state initiative should make life easier for the new breed of Tasmanians as it easier to shun smoking habit than kick it.

And the best way to that is to set up legal precepts that support youngsters' resolve not to light a stick at all.

"This would mean that we would have a generation of people not exposed to tobacco products," Mr Dean was reported by the Australian Associated Press (AAP) as saying on Wednesday.

"As the generation reaches 18 years, there will be fewer of them smoking and while some of those first turning 18 might smoke, as time goes on fewer and fewer will," he added.

Mr Dean is convinced that retailers can effectively implement the ban by simply requiring identification documents from buyers.

According to ABC, Finland and Singapore have the same regulation and it is likely that the Tasmanian Government will eventually adopt the proposal pushed by the state's legislative council.

Health Minister Michelle O'Byrne told ABC today that the ball has started rolling, with her office sending notice to the Commissioner for Children to seriously look into the matter.

And the proposal found an ally on the Cancer Council, which called on Tasmania "to explore radical new ideas that might set the pace for the rest of the country."

"It's excellent for (the Tasmanian) government to explore very different ways to tackle the heath problem," the health council added in a statement.

Yet according to another Tasmanian MP, Ruth Forrest, the proposal would surely not eradicate health problems that were blamed on cigarettes smokes since the product will be banished from the state at all.

With the presence of passive smoking, it is likely that Tasmanians "still get to walk through a cloud of smoke every now and then," Ms Forrest told ABC.

Also, tobacco industry spokeswoman Jann Smith echoed the arguments offered by tobacco firms - that making it hard for people to purchase cigarettes would prod them to shun or drop smoking altogether.

Worse, the new regulation would only spawn a black market, in which it would be hard for the state government to impose its authority, Ms Smith added.

RELATED STORIES