Australia will further expand the size of graphic health warnings on tobacco packs, it has been announced.

Health Minister Nicola Roxon said that the new laws will come into effect from 1 January 2012, with warnings covering 75% of the pack’s front.

The images will include diseased body parts, sickly babies and dying people.

Cigarettes sold in Australia currently include pictures of tumours and limbs infected with gangrene.

Under the new plain packaging laws, tobacco industry logos, brand imagery, colours and promotional text will be banned, with the packaging background in a standard drab olive green colour.

"The new graphic health warnings are a striking and confronting reminder of the death and disease that tobacco brings," Roxon said.