Federal Member for Parkes Jamie Chaffey says Australia’s illegal tobacco trade has become a national organised crime crisis affecting towns across the New England North West, backing a Coalition plan to cut the tobacco excise by 80 per cent.
Mr Chaffey said the plan would take away the profits driving organised crime’s grip on the illegal cigarette and vape trade.
“You don’t bring organised crime to its knees by protecting its business model,” Mr Chaffey said. “You have to destroy the business model, and that’s what the Coalition’s policy will do in the Parkes electorate.”
Under the Coalition’s plan, the excise on a standard packet of 20 cigarettes would fall from around $30 to just over $6, backed by a $200 million nationwide law enforcement surge and a $60 million public education campaign. Vapes and nicotine pouches would also be legalised, regulated and taxed for adults.
Mr Chaffey said the Government’s current approach had failed.
“Tobacco consumption has gone up around 30 per cent since the end of 2021 while taxes have kept rising, clearly showing that the Government’s current approach has failed,” Mr Chaffey said.
“Australians are getting the worst of all worlds: tobacco consumption is up, criminals are controlling most of the market, and taxpayers are losing billions in revenue.
“Labor has allowed a criminal industry to thrive on our streets. We will take back control. We will shut it down.”
The Government estimates organised crime groups are making between $4.1 billion and $6.9 billion in profit from illicit tobacco. In 2017, illicit tobacco accounted for around 10 per cent of consumption; by 2025, the Australian Bureau of Statistics estimated the illicit share had reached around 80 per cent.
Not everyone is convinced a tax cut will be enough. Former detective and drug squad team leader Charlie Bezzina said he doubted either the Coalition’s 80 per cent cut or One Nation’s rival 75 per cent proposal would change smokers’ behaviour.
“Realistically, I don’t think they can bring down the excise to match the cost,” Mr Bezzina said. “Even if there is $1 to be saved, or $2 to be saved, the illegal market is going to continue to thrive … we’re a selfish race.”
Federal Health Minister Mark Butler said there was no evidence reducing the excise would make a “material difference” to the illegal market without doing harm to smoking rates.
The Coalition’s plan is costed on the basis that a black market pack currently sells for $15 to $20, with Opposition Leader Angus Taylor arguing that reducing the legal price to between about $16 and $26 would close the gap. But Australian Association of Convenience Stores chief executive Theo Foukkare says the evidence points to real-world prices already being lower than that.
“A pack of smokes today in Australia is between $12 and $15, that’s actually what consumers are paying more than eight times out of 10 if you’re an adult,” Mr Foukkare said.
Mr Foukkare also disputed Mr Butler’s claim that the impact of excise changes had not been modelled, pointing to separate research commissioned by his organisation and Ritchies IGA.
“Mark Butler is a flat-out liar,” Mr Foukkare said. “There is evidence.”
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