Labor cracks down on indigenous smoking

Mainstream anti-smoking campaigns haven't been effective in indigenous communities and new ways of communicating the dangers of tobacco have to be found, Indigenous Health Minister Warren Snowdon says.

A group of indigenous health workers gathered in Canberra this week to discuss ways of reducing the tobacco toll among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.

Fifty per cent of indigenous people smoke compared with less than 20 per cent of the wider community.

"If we could reduce tobacco consumption levels in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community to what it is in the general population we could increase life expectancy by between four and five years," Mr Snowdon said on Wednesday.

Smoking is the number one cause of chronic conditions and diseases such as cancer and cardiovascular disease among indigenous Australians.

Mr Snowdon said there were many reasons so many indigenous people smoked.

Socially, older Aboriginal people used to be paid in tobacco, he said.

It was also hard for children to avoid passive smoking in overcrowded houses.

But perhaps most tellingly, mainstream anti-smoking campaigns over the past 50 years had missed the mark when it came to indigenous Australians.

"What we haven't done is communicate in a way where Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are accepting of the message," Mr Snowdon said.

Some communities have poor literacy while others don't watch television, he said.

So current education campaigns are being targeted to specific communities.

The federal government has committed $100 million to fund 340 health workers in 57 regions. To date there are 82 workers on the ground in 20 locations.

New education posters include messages such as: "Traditional smoking heals ... tobacco smoke kills."

Another features indigenous boxer Anthony Mundine and the slogan: "Get with the plan if you wanna be a real man - stop smoking."

The man coordinating the commonwealth's indigenous anti-smoking effort is former social justice commissioner Tom Calma.

He says the key is to encourage people not to take up smoking in the first place.

"People may see the mainstream media campaigns but not really understand what it means when you see them squeezing the fat out of the veins," he said.

"So it's about making it appropriate."

Sean Appo from the Tharawal Aboriginal Corporation in south-west Sydney says turning around existing attitudes will take time but it can be done.