PRIVATE MEMBERS' BUSINESS

Ms COKER (Corangamite) (12:46): Australians should be proud of our record in reducing the harmful impacts of smoking over more than two decades in a bipartisan approach which has resulted in a significant reduction in smoking related deaths and a massive decrease in the Australian daily smoking rate. These outcomes have been good for our nation's health; they put less pressure on our hospitals, put less pressure on the budget and have delivered healthy outcomes for Australians.

The three conservative parties—the Liberals, the Nationals and One Nation—all want to undo these hard-fought achievements with a harmful policy: a dramatic reduction in the tobacco excise. I'm old enough to remember a time when the MCG would be clouded in a grey haze of cigarette smoke while VFL games were played, battling for supremacy with giant advertising ads circling the ground.

I remember a time when cigarette butts littered our footpaths and clogged up our waterways. I remember when it was acceptable for people to smoke in workplaces. We've come a long way in changing the culture and behaviours around smoking, but the coalition's dangerous proposal to reduce the tobacco excise gives greater acceptance of smoking and greater social licence for a return to the bad old days.

I acknowledge smoking is an addiction. It is a disease, which means that, as a nation, we don't want smoking to be more accessible, particularly for young people. Instead of giving in to the illicit tobacco trade, our government—the Albanese government—is acting.

Since 2024 our government has committed more than $365 million to tackling illicit tobacco and nicotine products. We've established the National Disruption Group, led by the Australian Border Force, bringing together Commonwealth, state and territory agencies to target the illicit tobacco trade across the supply chain, and we're seeing results. In 2025-26 the Australian Border Force seized more than 2,300 tonnes of illicit tobacco and 13.2 million vaping devices.

Those seizures are important, because these are products that have not made it into Australian communities, and this is money that has not gone into the hands of criminal syndicates. The AFP-led Criminal Assets Confiscation Taskforce has also confiscated more than $47 million in assets, and state and territory authorities have closed more than 1,000 illicit tobacco stores.

We all know there is more work to do. The Commonwealth has a role, but so do the states and territories. We need effective closure orders and landlord penalties, and we need properly resourced compliance teams, so that when an illegal tobacco shop is identified, governments have the capacity to act.

That matters, because enforcement punishes people who are involved in this trade. It means it's harder to operate and harder to sell products illegally. There is another part of this motion that I want to address.

The opposition has pointed to the fall in tobacco excise revenue as evidence that the government's approach has failed, but fewer people smoking means less tobacco being sold legally, and that means less tobacco excise being collected. The purpose of tobacco policy is not to maximise the amount of tax collected from smokers. The purpose is to reduce smoking rates and the enormous health burden that comes with them.

That's why I'm so concerned about proposals to make tobacco significantly cheaper. We need to deal with the illicit market, but cutting tobacco excise does not deal with the criminal networks behind that market. That requires enforcement.

It requires government working together to close businesses that are selling illicit tobacco. We also need to keep the focus on young people. Australia has made enormous progress in reducing smoking rates, and we must ensure the next generation does not become addicted to nicotine.

That means continuing the public health measures that have brought smoking rates down, tackling illicit products being sold to our communities and strengthening the mechanisms to catch those who are doing the wrong thing. I don't think anyone is suggesting that the illicit tobacco problem has been solved. There is more work to do.

Our federal government will continue that work. We're focused on supporting communities and legitimate businesses and protecting the progress we have made in public health. That's what the Albanese government is doing, and that is why I oppose this motion.