rehctub,
"Aidan, have you ever tried to do much without money?"
Yes and it's not easy. Fortunately the lack of money was a blatant lie by Tony Abbott. Not only is Australia's debt low by international standards, but we own the Reserve Bank therefore have unlimited credit. So however you look at it, we can afford to spend a lot more.

"As for image, kids don't buy cigarettes, so how would image influence their habits?"
They get the cigarettes from somewhere. Doesn't the somewhere involve packets?

'As for imcompitance, if government wants to change the packaging, they should have told the manufacturers that if you wish to continue selling tabbacco products in this country you will have to change your packaging. Rather than this, the Gillard government changed the packaging and forced them to comply. This is where the legal argument is. Not in the packaging, but rather in the way it was implemented."
So you're saying that the entire legal argument is based on an extremely dubious legal technicality?

How, if not by telling the manufacturers that if you wish to continue selling tabbacco products in this country you will have to change your packaging, did the government force them to comply?

"Win loose or draw, it will cost millions, if not billions"
Which will be recouped from a healthier population in the long run.

"we don't have to defend the incompetence of Gillard and her crew."
The current crew is far less competent – you don't have to defend them either.