Malarndirri McCarthy (NT, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Indigenous Australians) Share this | Hansard source

I refute and reject everything you have just said. The officials on this side of the Senate would certainly know their information, and they would certainly know a lot more than what you were implying. I want to put on the record here and again reiterate to the Senate that addressing the illegal tobacco trade is an integral part of any comprehensive tobacco control strategy. The Illicit Tobacco Taskforce is part of that, and all of those agencies, including the Australian Border Force, the Australian Taxation Office, the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission, the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre and the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions, as well as law enforcement agencies, are working together to target, disrupt and dismantle serious and organised crime syndicates that deal in illicit tobacco.

The best way for anyone to improve their lives would be to just stop smoking altogether, whether it is legal or illegal smoking, Senator Ruston. So I'm not too sure why you want to keep pushing this line that illegal trade is going to cause the sky to cave in for this piece of legislation after what we heard through the evidence to the Senate committee. Let me read through what the public health advocates and experts said. Yes, they recognise the problem of illicit tobacco in the Australian community, but many refuted the claims by tobacco companies and retailers that proposed measures will drive consumers to the illicit tobacco market. For example, the Public Health Association of Australia explained that, when implemented in other countries, measures such as those proposed by this bill have not been shown to drive consumers to illicit products. Professor Coral Gartner, an international expert in tobacco control policy, said:

Not progressing regulations that will improve public health through regulating tobacco products is not an effective way to reduce the illicit tobacco market … We had these arguments raised when plain packaging was being discussed, that it would lead to an increase in illicit trade, and there is strong evidence that that didn't happen.