The Australian’s campaign to torture and misrepresent the data on the volume of tobacco consumed in Australia seems to have had a final nail in the coffin with news from British American Tobacco, no less, that sales volumes in Australia are falling.

In their annual report which covers the period up to 31 December 2013, the BAT report notes:

“Australia:
Profit was up strongly as a result of higher pricing and cost saving initiatives, partially offset by lower volume.”

What was that?

BAT saying “lower volumes”?

Oh I see. The volume of tobacco sold by BAT was lower in 2013, a picture that dovtails perfectly with the data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Who would have thought that?

Certainly not The Australian writers Christian Kerr, Adam Creighton, Henry Ergas, Judith Sloan, Sinclair Davidson, Chris Merritt, The Editorial writer or the person who puts together the cheeky Cut and Paste column.

See BAT annual report, page 32:  

https://www.bat.com/ar/2013/assets/pdfs/BAT_AR2013.pdf