Australian Liberal Party supporting the tobacco industry?

British American Tobacco website on 27 May 2011:

We have a clear policy and compliance procedures on political donations, set out in our Group-wide Standards of Business Conduct. Contributions from our companies to political parties and organisations, their officers, elected politicians and candidates for elective office are generally not encouraged.

Such payments can only be made for the purpose of influencing the debate on issues affecting the company or Group and not to achieve any improper business or other advantage (such as to secure a government contract), must not be intended personally to benefit the recipient or his or her family, friends, associates or acquaintances and must be permissible under all applicable laws….

We collate information centrally on contributions to political parties and to individual politicians that are made for the benefit of their party. Payments in 2010 were as follows:

Where there's smoke there's money (2004) in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine in December 2004:

Voting records of 527 members of the 106th U.S. Congress were obtained for 49 tobacco-related bills between 1997 and 2000. Tobacco industry political action committee (PAC) contributions for each member were summed from 1993 to 2000. A cross-sectional, multilevel model was constructed that predicts voting behavior based on amount of contributions, political party, home state, and amount of state tobacco agriculture. The data were analyzed in 2002, 2003, and 2004.....

A total of $6,827,763 was received by the legislators from 17 tobacco industry PACs, an average of $12,956 per member. Senate Republicans received the most money (mean $22,004), while Senate Democrats received the least ($6,057). Republicans voted pro-tobacco 73% of the time and Democrats voted pro-tobacco only 23% of the time (p <0.001). Pro-tobacco voting percentage varied significantly by state (intraclass correlation coefficient=0.27, p <0.001). The amount of PAC money received by a member of Congress was positively associated with voting pro-tobacco (p <0.01), even after controlling for political party, state, and state tobacco farming. For Democrats in Congress who voted pro-tobacco, for every $10,000 contribution they received, they were 9.8% more likely to do so. On the other hand, for Republicans who voted pro-tobacco, for every $10,000 received, they were only 3.5% more likely to do so....

Tobacco industry contributions, political party, and state-level factors influence the voting behavior of Congress members. In the 106th Congress, Republicans voted pro-tobacco over three times as often as Democrats. However, for those Democrats who voted pro-tobacco, the relationship between receiving tobacco industry PAC money and a pro-tobacco vote was stronger than it was for Republicans.

Tobacco funding: time to quit (2010) in The Drum in May 2010:

The Australian Electoral Commission website reports that in recent years both the Philip Morris company and British American Tobacco have been generous donors to the Liberal Party and the National Party. During the year 2008/9 Philip Morris contributed $158,000 to the Liberal and National parties around Australia.o:p>

Tobacco industry donations to the Liberal Party of Australia at national level in 2009-10 according to the Australian Electoral Commission:

British American Tobacco $19,800
Phillip Morris Limited $15,000 and $16,500

Tony Abbott:

2009 - I was a child that was regularly imprisoned in a car with heavy smokers. My parents both smoked heavily when I was a kid. Now has it done me any harm? Well, yes, you be the judge, you be the judge. I mean maybe but for that I would have been six foot six, and I would have had much greater intelligence, who knows.

2010 -

2011 - Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has defended his anti-smoking credentials amid criticism that the Liberal and National parties were influenced by donations from tobacco companies.

The federal government says the fact 97 per cent of British American Tobacco's political donations worldwide last year went to the Liberal and National parties proved the Coalition "on the drip".

Mr Abbott said tobacco companies "wasted their money" if they thought it would influence the Liberal Party and said when he was health minister he helped reduce smoking rates.

Mr Abbott, a former health minister who beefed up the health warnings on cigarette packets, says he is not convinced the plain green packets with graphic health warnings will help reduce smoking. Other Liberals argue tobacco is a legal product and the companies have intellectual rights over their brands.