QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE

Senator WATT (Queensland—Minister for the Environment and Water) (14:36): Thanks, Senator Duniam. I haven't seen those comments myself, but what I can say, as I have already said, is that we are very committed to working with state and territory agencies to tackle this serious problem. There's effort going in at a police enforcement level.

There's effort going in from Border Force. There are a range of other efforts being undertaken at the federal level as well. We know that it will take time, but we are already seeing results from some of these efforts.

Over 2.5 billion illegal cigarettes and a total of 2,000 tonnes of tobacco were seized by Border Force last year, which is up 320 per cent over three years. But we recognise there is more to be done. We will keep sticking at it as an important issue.