Fiona Nash (NSW, National Party, Deputy Leader of the Nationals) Share this | Hansard source

I can advise the Senate that the government provided $7.7 million in the 2016-17 budget to expand the Tobacco Strike Team and will introduce strengthened offences for illicit tobacco. The Tobacco Strike Team works to disrupt and dismantle criminal groups engaged in the supply of illicit tobacco to Australia. The government's confident that the Tobacco Strike Team's work is having an impact on the illicit market, based on the significant operational success, particularly in terms of seizures. I should add, however, that there is no reliable evidence that increases in excise on tobacco products have influenced the illicit tobacco market in Australia.