This World No Tobacco Day, Australia’s Health Tracker by Area 2017 reveals that 27.5 per cent or 1565 Wellington residents smoke. Wellington’s rate of smokers per 100 people is just above Cowra with 25.6 per cent or 1582 people unable to quit the habit.

In the Lithgow area, Nyngan, Warren, Cobar and Coonamble, 25.4 per cent of residents are lighting up. The number of smokers in the Lithgow area total 2873 and in the four other communities 2699.

Orange north/Orange region has the lowest rate of smokers among the 20 localities with 16.3 per cent or 2918 people addicted to tobacco.

In Dubbo east/ Dubbo west 20.7 per cent or 2884 people smoke, compared with 18 per cent or 2102 in Dubbo south and 17.1 per cent or 680 in the Dubbo region, which comprises small communities surrounding the city including Elong Elong and Wambangalang.

Australia’s Health Tracker by Area reports of  2.8 million Australian adults smoking, with many of them in low socioeconomic communities.

Research showing “two thirds of people who continue to smoke are likely to die because of their smoking” is being highlighted by health authorities who are calling for ongoing media campaigns and more support for proven tobacco control programs for Indigenous communities, people with mental illness and disadvantaged groups.  

Curtin University’s Professor Mike Daube has declared “this is our most preventable epidemic”.  

“We know exactly what needs to be done, but the tobacco industry has developed new strategies to keep people smoking, and governments are getting complacent,” he said.

Director of the Australian Health Policy Collaboration, Victoria University, Rosemary Calder, said “we are a world leader in this area of health”.

“By 2025 we want to drive the numbers down to  five per cent or less of the population smoking,” she said.

“We have a road map to get Australia to this target.”

Meanwhile, the Australian Bureau of Statistics reports of smoking rates in Australia  dropping by almost 10 per cent over the past two decades. 

Smoking tobacco is associated with an increased risk of a wide range of health conditions, including heart disease, diabetes, stroke, cancer, renal disease, eye disease and respiratory conditions such as asthma, emphysema and bronchitis.