Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance) Share this | Hansard source

The package of measures that the government has announced is designed to combat the illicit tobacco trade and protect the integrity of Australia's tobacco excise system. In addition to requiring importers to pay excise when tobacco enters the country rather than when it enters the domestic market, eliminating leakage from warehouses to the black market, the measures the government has announced include the creation of a new multi-agency Illicit Tobacco Taskforce led by the Australian Border Force to bolster the capability of enforcement agencies to ensure future revenue and remove a key source of funding for organised crime.

The package will target the three main sources of illicit tobacco: smuggling, warehouse leakage and domestic production. The ATO and Home Affairs analysis suggests that illicit tobacco results in almost $600 million of forgone tobacco duty each year. According to the same analysis, leakage from licensed warehouses is responsible for an estimated 250 tonnes of tobacco that is unaccounted for each year—an estimated $172 million of forgone revenue. The package as a whole— (Time expired)