Combatting Illicit Tobacco Bill 2026

Mr REPACHOLI (Hunter) (11:30): Last week, I was talking to a small-business owner in my electorate. Like a lot of local shop owners, he's worked hard for years—long hours, early starts—looking after customers, looking after staff and doing the right thing. He said, 'Dan, I'm competing against people who don't play by the rules'— A division having been called in the House of Representatives — Sitting suspended from 11:30 to 11:47 Mr REPACHOLI: A couple of weeks ago, I was talking to a small-business owner in my electorate.

Like a lot of local shop owners, he's worked hard for years—long hours, early starts—looking after customers, looking after staff and just doing the right thing. He said, 'Dan, I'm competing against people who don't not play by the rules, not people who found better business models, not people who work harder, not people who just are genuinely trying to do the wrong thing bu0t people that are selling illegal tobacco, people linked to organised crime, people making huge profits while honest businesses are left trying to compete against products that shouldn't even be on the shelves.' And that's really what this bill is about.

It's about fairness, it's about public safety and it's about making sure organised criminals don't see Australia as an easy place to make billions of dollars, because that's exactly what's happening here. When most Australians hear the words 'illicit tobacco' they probably picture someone selling cheap cigarettes at the back of their shop. But the reality today is very different.

This is no longer just a tax issue. It is no longer just a health issue. It's becoming a serious organised crime issue.

The Illicit Tobacco and E-Cigarette Commissioner has estimated the illegal tobacco market in Australia is now worth somewhere between $4.1 billion and $6.9 billion. Just think about that for a moment: billions of dollars—not millions, billions. That's money flowing directly into criminal networks, and those criminal networks don't stop at tobacco.

The profits from illicit tobacco help fund other criminal activities: money laundering, scams, drug trafficking, violence and intimidation. Increasingly, we're seeing that violence spill into our communities. We've seen the reports, the firebombings, the threats, the criminal groups fighting over territory, the businesses being targeted, the families being frightened and the communities being put at risk.

These aren't victimless crimes. There are real victims. They're honest retailers who follow the law.

The worker whose workplace is threatened, the family living next door to the business that became the target of organised crime, the young person who gained access to unregulated products—every one of them pays a price, and that's why we're taking action. If organised criminals can make billions of dollars while facing relatively low risks, then we shouldn't be surprised when the problem keeps growing.

The truth is simple: for too long, the risk hasn't matched the reward. Criminal groups have looked at illicit tobacco and decided the profits are worth it. This bill changes that calculation.

It sends a clear message: if you want to profit from illicit tobacco in Australia, the consequences will be serious. This legislation increases penalties for a range of illicit tobacco offences. It strengthens the ability of law enforcement agencies to investigate these crimes, and it improves our capacity to go after the money.

Let's be honest. Organised crime isn't driven by ideology. It's not driven by principle.

It's driven by profit. The money is the motivation. If we want to disrupt these criminal networks, we have to take away the profits.

We have to make this trade less attractive. We have to make it harder to operate. We have to make it easier for law enforcement agencies to identify, investigate and prosecute those involved.

That's exactly what this bill does. I think it's important that we talk about what this actually looks like on the ground. Sometimes, when we stand in this place and talk about organised crime or billions of dollars in illegal markets, it can sound distant.

It can sound like something's happening somewhere else, but that is not the reality. The reality is that this impacts local communities every single day. In my electorate, like in electorates right across Australia, people want the same basic things.

They want safe streets. They want thriving local businesses. They want their kids growing up in a community where people follow the rules and where criminal behaviour isn't rewarded.

That's not asking for much, but that's exactly what's being undermined right now when organised crime gets a foothold in an industry like illicit tobacco. When I speak to local traders, they often tell me that they are frustrated. It's not because they're afraid of competition.

Competition is part of business, and a good part. What frustrates them is seeing people profit from breaking the law while they are doing the right thing. They pay their taxes.

They meet their obligations. They employ local people. They follow regulations.

Then they watch someone down the road selling illegal products at prices they simply can't compete with and wonder how that is fair. Frankly, they're right to ask that question, because it isn't fair. That's one reason why this bill matters so much.

It's about backing the businesses that are doing the right thing. It's about making sure honest operators aren't left competing against organised criminal networks. Importantly, it doesn't just target the products; it targets the profits.

Anyone who has spent time looking at organised crime knows one thing: follow the money. Follow the cash. The money tells the story, the money reveals the network, the money reveals who's involved, and the money is often the reason the crime is occurring in the first place.

That's why the proceeds of crime measures in this bill are so important. If we can strip away the profits and remove the incentives, if we can take away the money, we can weaken the criminal enterprise. If we can make this trade less lucrative, fewer criminal groups will see it as a worthwhile risk.

That is common sense. It's something Australians understand. People understand that, if someone profits from criminal activity, they shouldn't get to keep the proceeds of that crime.

That principle is widely accepted. This bill strengthens our ability to make sure that actually happens. I think Australians would expect nothing less.

Another point worth making is that this legislation isn't being developed in isolation; it's part of a broader national effort. Over recent years, we've seen stronger cooperation between governments than ever before. The Commonwealth is working more closely with states and territories.

Law enforcement agencies are sharing information more effectively. Resources are being coordinated; operations are being coordinated—and that matters, because criminal groups are coordinated; they're organised; they're adaptable; they move quickly. Government has to be capable of doing the same as well.

We've already seen encouraging signs. In some jurisdictions where enforcement activity has been intensified, illegal trade has fallen significantly. That shows something important: these criminal operations are not unstoppable.

They can be disrupted; they can be dismantled. But it requires persistence, it requires coordination and it requires governments being prepared to act. And that's exactly what we're doing.

I also want to acknowledge the work being done by frontline officers, whether it's the Australian Border Force officers intercepting shipments before they even enter the country, investigators tracking criminal networks, or state enforcement officers carrying out inspections and closures. These people are doing important work every day. Often, it's work that Australians never see but communities benefit from nonetheless.

When a shipment is seized at the border, that's a success. When an illegal operation is shut down, that's a success. When criminal profits are confiscated, that is a success.

And every one of those successes helps make our community safer. This bill gives those agencies stronger tools to continue that work—not because we want to create unnecessary powers, not because we want to overreach, but because we want our laws to reflect the seriousness of this threat. The reality is that organised crime has evolved—the methods have evolved; the technology has evolved; the scale has evolved—and our response must evolve, too.

If we fail to adapt, criminal groups will exploit the gaps. If we fail to adapt, they'll continue to make billions. If we fail to adapt, communities will continue bearing the consequences.

That's why this legislation is both necessary and so important for right now. It's about giving law enforcement the tools they need. It's about protecting honest businesses.

It's about protecting public health. It's also about standing up for communities who are sick and tired of seeing organised crime profit at their expense. That's a goal I think every member of this House can support.

I know some people might ask why stronger powers are needed. The answer is very straightforward. The criminal landscape has changed.

The scale of the problem has changed. And our laws need to keep up. The powers in this bill are not unprecedented.

We are not creating some entirely new framework. We are making sure law enforcement agencies have access to tools that reflect the seriousness of the criminal activity they're dealing with, because, when organised criminal groups are using sophisticated communications, moving large amounts of money and coordinating operations across jurisdictions, our agencies need the ability to respond effectively.

Otherwise, we're asking them to fight with one hand tied behind their back. This bill recognises that reality. It allows illicit tobacco offences to be treated with the seriousness they deserve.

And that's important, because the consequences of inaction are very real. If we don't act, the illicit market grows. If we don't act, criminal profits increase.

If we don't act, more violence flows. And, if we don't act, decades of progress in reducing smoking rates are all put at risk. Australia has worked hard over many years to reduce smoking rates.

Governments of different political persuasions have done a lot in the effort to make this happen. Communities have contributed. Health professionals have contributed.

Families have contributed. The results have been significant. But illicit tobacco threatens and undermines that progress.

These products are unregulated. They don't meet Australian standards. Consumers often have no idea what is actually in them.

And, because they're sold outside the illegal market, they can be more accessible than they should be. That's not good for public health, it's not good for communities and it's certainly not good for young Australians. This government has not waited for the problem to solve itself.

Since 2023, we've invested heavily in disrupting illicit tobacco and vaping products. We've provided $346 million to the ABF to strengthen enforcement efforts. We've appointed Australia's first illicit tobacco and e‑cigarette commissioner.

We've established stronger national coordination. We've worked closely with states and territories across this country. The results are already being seen.

Since January 2024, more than 14 million vaping products and accessories have been seized. In just six months last year, more than one billion illicit cigarettes were seized. That's one billion.

That figure alone tells you the scale of what we're dealing with. But it also tells us something else. It tells us that our agencies are doing important work.

They're identifying these products and intercepting them, and they're stopping them from reaching Australian communities. This bill helps them even more, because enforcement at the border is only part of the solution. We also need stronger action within Australia.

We need stronger coordination, we need stronger investigations and we need stronger consequences. That's why cooperation between the Commonwealth, states and territories is so important, because no single government can solve this alone. No single agency can solve this.

It requires everybody working together. Over the past six months, we've seen significant progress. States and territories are strengthening licensing agreements, they're improving enforcement, they're introducing stronger closure measures and they're looking at tougher consequences for those who facilitate illegal activity.

That's exactly the kind of coordination response we need, because organised crime doesn't respect state borders, and our response can't stop at state borders either. It has to be national, it has to be coordinated and it has to be determined. At its heart, this bill is about protecting communities, it's about protecting legitimate businesses, it's about protecting public health and it's about making sure organised crime does not get richer while Australians pay the price.

When people walk into a local shop in Morisset, Toronto, Cameron Park, Kurri Kurri, Cessnock, Singleton or Rathmines, they should have confidence that the business is operating fairly and legally; when families go about their daily lives, they shouldn't have to worry about criminal violence connected to illicit tobacco; and, when organised criminals look at Australia, they should see a country that is serious about enforcement and serious about consequences.

That's what this legislation delivers. It's practical, it's targeted and it's necessary, because the choice before us is clear: we can allow criminal groups to continue treating illicit tobacco as a low-risk, high-reward business, or we can act. We can strengthen our laws, we can support law enforcement, we can target criminal profits and we can protect Australian communities.

This government has chosen to act, and I commend this bill to the House.