More than four out of five smokers want to give up cigarettes, a study has found.
The figures, compiled by the Cancer Council Victoria, found 84% of smokers were not happy to continue the habit, Quit Victoria executive director Todd Harper said on Wednesday.
Only 11% of smokers were happy to continue smoking for the rest of their lives.
"That so many smokers are unhappy to continue smoking illustrates not only how addictive cigarettes are, but also how adept the tobacco industry have become at making it hard for smokers to quit," Harper said.
"We need to be doing all that we can to help people to quit and this means restricting the ability of the tobacco industry to market their deadly product."
Plain packaging and a ban on point-of-sale tobacco displays were needed to reduce the risk of others taking up the habit and to encourage smokers to quit, Harper said.
"The only way to stamp out aggressive tobacco industry tactics, using the pack as the primary method of promoting their deadly product, is to force the tobacco industry to adopt plain packaging," he said.
"Along with the removal of the tobacco products currently displayed at the point of sale, often in venues frequented by children, a move to plain packaging would be a significant step forward in reducing the exposure of both smokers and non-smokers to tobacco marketing."
