Llew O'Brien (Wide Bay, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) notes that the supply, distribution and sale of illicit tobacco and vapes:

(a) is a significant source of revenue for organised crime and criminal gangs connected with the production of illicit drugs, illegal prostitution, supply of illegal firearms and other unlawful activities that cause harm to Australians;

(b) deprives the Australian people of approximately $400 million each year that would be directed toward the national health system;

(c) deprives lawful retailers of tobacco products of business; and

(d) endangers lives, properties and communities, including the owners and staff of legitimate grocery stores that sell legal tobacco and vapes; and

(2) calls on the Government to:

(a) properly empower, resource and fund the Illicit Tobacco Taskforce to disrupt the supply and distribution of illicit tobacco and vapes; and

(b) legislate tough penalties to deter both the demand and supply of illicit tobacco and vapes.

Every time you buy illegal cigarettes you're supporting organised crime. When generally law-abiding smokers quit legal tobacco to purchase from the black market they believe the only victim is a greedy federal or state government missing out on $4.2 billion of tobacco excise and $400 million in GST, but illicit tobacco is often the cashflow arm for sophisticated criminal syndicates dealing in the worst of the black market, including human trafficking, sex slavery and drugs. When authorities seize illicit cigarettes they are often in the company of drugs including ice, crack and cocaine or illegal guns and stolen vehicles. Illicit tobacco translates to more powerful international Middle Eastern gangs and more grief on the streets. In April a Gympie shop selling illicit tobacco was firebombed. The fire spread and damaged neighbouring businesses. So far this year we've recorded at least 29 firebombings on tobacco shops and daylight gang shootings in our cities as criminal gangs are acting with, it appears, impunity.

To better understand the nature of the illicit tobacco market the former coalition government held an inquiry through the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Law Enforcement:

The ABF informed the committee that organised criminal networks involved in illicit tobacco operate similarly to those involved in the importation of other contraband … such as narcotics. These criminal organisations:

… have access to a global network of … smuggling facilitators who … seek to infiltrate and exploit … members of the international supply chain—

using established smuggling routes—

… they look … they behave … very similar to those … involved in the importation of drugs, and … may be one and the same.

Illicit tobacco is now a dangerous law-and-order issue in our country. At estimates in May 2023 Australian Border Force commissioner Michael Outram said on a good day they could detect only 20 per cent of the illegal drugs imported into the country. The ATO's tax gap webpage acknowledges the boom of illicit tobacco even as authorities seize the highest amounts ever recorded. This is not an overnight crisis; it has grown as continual excise increases have pushed smokers to the black market because they can no longer afford legal, regulated tobacco products. This week, a tobacco bill before the parliament will ban certain tobacco products from legal retailers altogether, making them exclusive to the black market. This legislation is more of the same. It will put graphic warnings on individual legal cigarettes, ban legal menthols and limit advertising of legal vapes, all while the illegal trade flourishes and sells to underage children and teens.

If the Albanese government believes that health warnings on individual cigarettes will lower smoking rates, then why isn't the government addressing contraband tobacco? Without investment in policing at the Australian border and at the retail level, this legislation and further excise increases will supercharge the illicit tobacco market, making it the dominant supplier of tobacco products in Australia. Illicit tobacco consumption is going gangbusters, with 2.6 million kilograms smoked a year, worth about $4.2 billion. One in four cigarettes can now be linked to organised crime. On the current trend, criminal gangs will run 40 per cent of the Australian tobacco market by the next election, when two in five smokes will be untaxed and sold in non-compliant packaging. Legal domestic sales volumes have fallen from 14.3 million kilograms in 2012 to 8.5 million kilograms in 2022, yet smoking rates are not plummeting in the same way.

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