Report calls for urgent action on illegal tobacco

A taskforce report aimed at tackling illegal tobacco trade has called for an overhaul of federal excise taxes and regulations.
The Coalition taskforce last week released its report, The Illicit Tobacco Crisis in Australia, which was authored by Member for Monash Mary Aldred and Tasmanian Senator Richard Colbeck.
The report found that under the Albanese government, organised crime had taken almost complete control of Australia's tobacco market and current policy settings must be comprehensively overhauled to prevent an entirely black market for tobacco and nicotine products.
Ms Aldred said the taskforce had consulted a cross-section of experts and Australians most impacted by the crisis.
"By speaking with small businesses, law enforcement experts, economists and health experts we have prepared the most comprehensive account yet of how Australia lost control of this market," Ms Aldred said.
Despite repeated increases in excise, nicotine consumption has risen about 40 per cent between 2017 and 2025, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
The ABS also found about 80 per cent of the nicotine consumed by Australians came from illicit sources, with much of the market controlled by serious and organised crime groups.
The report found the illicit tobacco crisis was no longer just a health and economic problem but a major law and order crisis that would continue to worsen without urgent action.
Recommendations include:
• Drastically reducing the tobacco excise rate, with a reduction of up to 80 per cent needed to break the organised crime business model;
• Establish a target of five per cent for Australia to achieve an "Effective Zero" smoking rate, reduced from the current objective of 10 per cent;
• Convening a national cabinet specifically on illegal tobacco to reset federal and state co-operation on enforcement, licensing and closure powers;
• Review state and federal law enforcement settings to ensure agencies have the funding they need and are as co-ordinated as possible;
• Establishing a highly regulated and licensed framework for the legal sale of vapes, with manufacturing standards and age limits;
• Launching properly resourced and refreshed education campaign on the health impacts of illegal vaping, smoking, and the health impacts of illegal tobacco;
• Requiring Australia Post to mandate content declarations, with corresponding powers of inspection and seizure; and
• Actively investigating and prosecuting unlawful online tobacco and vape sales through a properly resourced and co-ordinated law enforcement group.
Sen Colbeck said it was "time to dispense with the fantasy that the price of cigarettes in Australia is $50-$60 per packet.
"When up to 80% of the market is paying organised crime prices of $15-$20 per packet that is the real price of cigarettes in Australia today."
"We absolutely don't want people to smoke, but this is no longer just smoking issue. It is about who controls a billion-dollar market in our economy.
"The strategy of increasing prices to encourage people to quit smoking has been undermined by organised crime and effectively wiped out, and the organised crime price comes with none of the requirements of a regulated market - including selling to children," he said.