STATEMENTS BY MEMBERS

Ms ALDRED (Monash—Opposition Whip) (13:39): Just after midnight this morning, 80 metres from my office in my home town of Warragul, a suspected illegal tobacco outlet was firebombed. A week ago it was ramraided, and, like clockwork, there was an arson attack this morning. My thoughts are with the five businesses in that immediate vicinity who have had to close their doors and cancel appointments with clients.

They're not going to be open for the next couple of days, maybe even a week. They're now looking at increased insurance premiums and structural damage. This is not an isolated story.

This is Victoria under Jacinta Allan as premier. We've got her failed illegal tobacco taskforce; that is clearly not working. We've got incredible local police that are doing their best with limited resources and their hands tied behind their back.

Until this federal government gets serious about having a multipronged approach to address illicit tobacco, we're going to continue seeing alarming statistics like what the Australian bureau of stats released last week. It provided clear evidence that 80 per cent of the tobacco market in Australia is now illicit. Smoking rates in Western Australia are going up.

Proceeds are going to organised crime linked to the CFMEU, terrorist groups and bikie gangs. Australia is not safe as we continue with this illicit tobacco crisis.