QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE

Senator HUME (Victoria—Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (14:41): Minister, the current system is also bleeding the budget. Tobacco excise revenue has halved from around $16 billion to $8 billion while organised crime has collected billions instead. The independent Parliamentary Budget Office estimates that the coalition's package, which includes cutting the tobacco excise by 80 per cent, will improve the budget by around $8 billion over four years.

This will bring sales out of the black market and back into the legal economy. Does the minister agree that the current system is broken and more must be done?