Tasmania has dropped plans to raise the smoking age to as high as 25 after lengthy consultations, the Australian Broadcast Corporation said in a report citing state Health Minister Michael Ferguson.

“It is a challenging proposal involving a balance of preserving individual adult rights and freedom of choice with the desire to reduce youth smoking," Ferguson reportedly said. The smoking age would have risen to 21, and could have gone as high as 25, ABC reported. The broadcaster said there were calls for Ferguson to resign after the plan was withdrawn.
It was unknown whether the cancellation would affect a proposal by Tasmanian MP Ivan Deane to ban state residents born after 2000 from buying cigarettes, ABC said.