STATEMENTS BY MEMBERS

Mr WILLCOX (Dawson) (13:48): When gangs are firebombing small business to take control of the tobacco market, you know Labor's tobacco policy isn't working. The local retailers who are doing the right thing—paying their taxes, following the law and selling a legal product—are the ones being threatened and attacked. That is the reality of Labor's tobacco mess.

Gangs are making billions from the illicit tobacco trade and using those profits to fund drugs, money laundering and violence. And here is the point that Labor ignores—people are influenced by price; they are already buying the cheap illicit product. The coalition's policy will make legal cigarettes competitive with illicit tobacco, taking away the gangs' price advantage.

Let's be honest about what is happening on our streets. Young people already know where to get cheap chop-chop. Gangs are using those profits to fund the drugs flooding our communities.

Protecting young Australians means breaking the criminal pipeline, not allowing it to grow. This is about taking the market—taking with it the control. We need to take the control away from the criminals.

The gangs have been enjoying a profitable smoko while Labor has let the black market flourish. It's time to stub out the illicit tobacco trade before it bankrolls more drugs and more violence. Labor, do the right thing.