Customs and Other Legislation Amendment (Illicit Tobacco Enforcement Modernisation and Other Measures) Bill 2026

Mr McCORMACK (Riverina) (12:20): I'm pleased, as always, to see a number of young people in the galleries. I say to those young people what I say to all young people when I visit schools and when they come to parliament. My electorate has more schoolchildren, as I understand it, who come to parliament than any other electorate—first of all, because it's such a big electorate and, second of all, because it borders the Australian Capital Territory.

I say to those children two things: don't smoke, because it's expensive, it's dumb and it's unhealthy, and, when you go online, don't write something that you wouldn't like said about yourself. They are two pretty easy principles to follow and they lead to good values and good health outcomes. So please follow this old fellow's advice.

You'll go okay if you follow just those two basic principles. My late father, Lance, died, ultimately, from having too many cigarettes. Dad was a pack-a-day smoker for many, many years and he died before his time, it's sad to say, back in 2008.

Never a day goes by that I don't think of my dad and miss his presence. I know he would have been able to provide some really valuable advice because he was a good, practical, commonsense, salt-of-the-earth type of person. I've never put a cigarette to my lips—I haven't.

I don't begrudge those who do. I know how addictive nicotine is and I don't knock anybody for smoking should that be what they want to do. We live in a free world.

We're adults—apart from those schoolchildren, who need to heed my advice. I am really concerned about what we have seen, in Victoria particularly, in recent times with small businesses which are able to sell cigarettes. There are little tobacco shops and, as long as the sale of cigarettes is legal, then they are perfectly entitled to do just that.

I note that there are two Victorian members, a minister and a shadow minister, here at the table. I have to say that the trade of illegal cigarettes has become so totally out of control in Victoria that insurance companies are now no longer providing cover for shops next door to those particular stores selling legal tobacco, because of the Molotov cocktails being thrown at these legal entities and because of the pressure being brought to bear and the number of stores being firebombed.

Sadly, the illegal nicotine trade has become the source of revenue for bikie gangs. It has—there is absolutely no question. Police are almost powerless to stop these firebombings, to stop these bikie gangs and to stop the violence and thuggery that have occurred as a result.

It's simply not right. We've got an election coming up on 28 November in Victoria, and the voters of Victoria are going to have a very clear choice to make. I think the choice has to be for change and has to be to a Wilson-O'Brien Liberal-Nationals government.

The Customs and Other Legislation Amendment (Illicit Tobacco Enforcement Modernisation and Other Measures) Bill 2026 will not be opposed by the coalition. It will not be. I say that at the same time as I want to very much put on the record a commendation for two particular coalition members: the member for Cowper and the member for Monash, who have been strident in the work that they have done to bring about better legislation and better policy in this particular area.

All politics is local; we know that. In April 2026, my local newspaper in Wagga Wagga, the Daily Advertiser, reported the number of local shops, both at Wagga Wagga and at Gundagai, having been shut down due to the sale of illicit tobacco. I know, from speaking to highway patrol officers—who contacted my office because the Hume Freeway intersects my very large New South Wales electorate—the number of times that they have pulled up vans, the drivers of which were speeding.

That's why they were pulled up, but then when they went through these particular vans, these particular vehicles, they were laden with illegal cigarettes, illegal vapes and cash that was in eye-watering amounts. Yet, unbelievably, along the Hume, one of these drivers, who was pulled up for breaking the law, for breaking the traffic rules, and was found to have a stash of cash that was unimaginable as well as illegal product, went to court, and the matter was thrown out.

Now wait for this. It was thrown out of court because—let's just say that the driver wasn't of Anglo-Saxon heritage, and the magistrate in said court said that the officers had failed in their duty because they were racially profiling. I don't know about anybody else, but when you've got a lidar or radar and you're aiming it at a car and the car is going well and truly over the 110 kilometre an hour speed limit, you don't know what nationality that person behind the wheel is.

You're just pulling the person over because they're speeding, breaking the law and placing people's lives in danger. That just seemed oblivious to this magistrate. I think a lot of things are oblivious to magistrates, sometimes, these days, when I look at certain judgements in domestic violence and certain judgements about environmental law and, certainly, when it came to this.

It's no wonder that police are frustrated. It's no wonder that the Victoria Police—and they do a fine job, just like all of our other state police—just shake their heads in wonder at the legislators in this country and what we're doing to protect them but, moreover, to protect the people of Australia. This particular legislation contains some sensible measures.

We have to be able to provide Commonwealth law enforcement and border agencies stronger tools to combat the illicit tobacco trade. We must do that, but I'll tell you what we also need to do. We need to encourage, from this place and wherever else we are, whether that's singing in the church choir or at the local fair or at the local sporting ground—we have to make sure that we send a message.

This will become very prevalent on 28 November and on 13 March next year, when we've got the Victorian and New South Wales elections, respectively. We must make sure, at the ballot box, that we send a very strong message to Spring Street in Melbourne and Macquarie Street in Sydney that enough is enough, that our police need support and that, when they bring charges to the courts, there are provisions within the act, and pretty stringent provisions, so that we can't have magistrates going off on a folly.

We can't have them going off on a frolic and doing judgements like they did in the case of that Hume pull-up where the driver was speeding and carrying lots and lots of illegal tobacco and money—nefarious people at best. There must be stringent penalties for those law-breakers. The state voters of New South Wales and Victoria have a big job to do.

Australia's illegal tobacco crisis has become so serious that I read a report recently where four in five cigarettes sold and smoked in Australia are illegal. That's 80 per cent. Can you imagine the excise duty that this government is not collecting when only one in five cigarettes is legal?

Let me tell you, that excise duty payable to Treasury has just gone south, absolutely nosedived, since Labor came to office in May 2022. I appreciate that the government has done all it can to talk about the health implications of smoking. I get that.

I understand that. Having had a father die from smoking related cancers, I appreciate that. I do.

But this government has a duty to do so much more. Whilst this legislation goes some of the way, it doesn't go all the way. I have to say that the policy areas that we've been enunciating recently as far as reducing excise and making other provisions in relation to this particular policy area should be listened to closely by the Labor government.

They should not, as they always do, get the Sussex Street talking points and announce it. The government has, quite frankly, shown ineptitude and incompetence on the issue of illegal tobacco. This bill makes certain changes to the Commonwealth enforcement framework applying to tobacco imported into and subsequently possessed and/or moved within Australia.

I also appreciate that those border officials cannot possibly check every 20-foot container that comes into Australia. But, at the same time, our borders need bolstering. I don't think that we've paid enough attention and provided enough funding to our border security situation to have the staffing and the resources that we need at those ports when those 20-foot containers come in and, somehow, some way, they just seem to be laden with illegal tobacco.

When we talk about the vapes, the government has just been sitting on its hands when it comes to making sure that we stop these illegal vapes coming into Australia. The difficulty is we just don't know what's in those vapes. I wouldn't want to put one of those things to my mouth for love nor money.

They have all these wonderful-sounding flavours like strawberry, banana and passionfruit, and names that make you think you're going to find romance and find a whole new utopia if you actually put one to your mouth. Well, it's not the case. God only knows what they've got in them.

I'll tell you what, it's not going to be good for your lungs or any other vital organ in your body if you put one to your mouth, but people do. Sad to say, it's out of control. It actually is out of control.

In particular, the bill establishes a clearer offence framework covering the unlawful importation of tobacco and its subsequent possession, movement, sale and supply across this nation. Unfortunately, because of Labor's horrendous mistakes and failed predictions, the coalition, whilst supporting the bill, have little confidence that the changes will get the effects that Labor is hoping for.

The bill also seeks to address longstanding evidentiary difficulties by allowing the illicit character of tobacco to be established through objective and observable circumstances, giving rise to a reasonable suspicion. Relevant matters can include extremely low prices, noncompliant packaging and an inability to demonstrate a legitimate source or supply chain.

That's all well and good. Try telling that to the police officer who is doing a call-out for domestic violence. They've got to monitor the situation because the state health department has told them to go and investigate illegal supply of tobacco and packaging et cetera over the counter.

Our police are under so much pressure. And I appreciate that that is a state matter. Whilst the coalition supports this legislation and whilst there are elements of it that are very good, Labor could have done so much more—and it could have done so much more so much sooner.

But, in typical Labor style, it has left it to the last minute. It always leaves it to the last minute. It always leaves it until you open up Pandora's box and the evil genies are out of the box and spreading their harm, and that's the case with this.

All I can say, unfortunately, is: typical Labor.