Mötley Crüe‘s Tommy Lee has shared his shock after paying £132 for four packs of cigarettes in Australia.
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The band recently wrapped up a handful of live dates Down Under. While in Australia, Lee went to buy his pack of smokes only to realise that each box was pricier than expected. The drummer took to his Instagram page to share a receipt from a 7-Eleven showing the steep price of £132 ($251.91 AUS, $164 USD) for four packs of cigarettes he paid for.
“$251.96 for 4 packs of smokes here in Melbourne!!! 7/11 wonderfully cheesier,” read the caption of the photo he shared onto the social media platform.
The price of cigarettes in Australia has risen to more that $40 due to large tobacco taxes designed to curb smoking. Per The Guardian, smoking has been cut down to only 10% of the population in the country.
According to the Department Of Health and Aged Care in Australia, “the Australian Government taxes tobacco products to make them less affordable through excise on tobacco products.”
They continued: “The tobacco excise rate is indexed based on average weekly ordinary-time earnings (AWOTE). This helps to ensure that tobacco products do not become more affordable over time.”
“Australia meets international best practice in tobacco taxation level with 77% of the retail price of cigarettes made up in taxes,” Professor Coral Gartner, director of research at the University of Queensland’s school of public health, told The Guardian.
He continued: “If Tommy Lee visits New Zealand, he may also be surprised to find that cigarette prices are similarly high, with taxes making up about 83% of the retail price.”
In other news, Mötley Crüe’s Nikki Sixx recently issued a statement thanking a judge, his legal team and the authorities for the way they’ve dealt with his multiple stalker incidents.
“Like many other public figures, myself and my family were harassed and threatened by a stalker. A deranged woman from Tennessee, who I have never met or seen before, targeted my wife and child with threats of death and bodily harm. This was not some internet troll but someone who was convinced that she was somehow connected to me,” began the musician’s statement.
“It’s one thing to threaten my safety but when it comes to serious threats against my wife and children it just becomes beyond alarming. They do not deserve this,” he added. “Thank you to the FBI, law enforcement, the detectives and the legal and court system for treating these threats with the severity and urgency they require. I will go to any lengths to protect my family.”
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