The Australian Government will keep its generic cigarette packaging and large health warnings, despite a new challenge to the policy from Indonesia.

The World Trade Organisation has signalled that Indonesia would like to speak with Australian authorities over the laws which force manufacturers to remove designs and motifs from their packaging in order to make the poisonous product less enticing.

Indonesia is the fifth country to take up a claim against Australia’s packaging laws, leading to speculation that a full-blown international trade dispute may be brewing.

Four other cases have been brought up since Australia enforced its drab green packaging. Ukraine, Honduras, the Dominican Republic and Cuba have all raised issues. The latter three of that group are major producers of cigars as well, and were concerned about the image of smoking products in general.

A spokesperson for the federal Health Minister Peter Dutton would not be drawn into idle speculation on the WTO’s proceedings, but did say the Government continues to stand by its plain packaging plan.

Australia’s High Court has already rejected previous claims that the laws breach international trade rules and intellectual property rights. If the case goes ahead and is found in favour of the plaintiff, the WTO could authorise retaliatory trade measures against Australia.

Recent research by Quit Victoria has found the laws have helped cut the uptake of smoking and people's perception of it. The study can be found here.