Customs and Other Legislation Amendment (Illicit Tobacco Enforcement Modernisation and Other Measures) Bill 2026
Ms URQUHART (Braddon) (15:52): I rise to support the Customs and Other Legislation Amendment (Illicit Tobacco Enforcement Modernisation and Other Measures) Bill 2026. This bill sends a firm message: Australia's tobacco policy will be set by the government in the public interest, not by criminal syndicates. We will protect the community, back our border and law enforcement agencies, stand with legitimate businesses and support Australians who want to quit smoking.
This bill is about keeping Australians safe, protecting our borders and ensuring that organised crime does not profit from addiction, illness and harm in our communities. It updates Commonwealth laws so enforcement agencies can respond to an illicit tobacco market that has changed in scale, in reach and in sophistication. Cigarettes are the only legally available product that, if used as intended, will more than likely kill you.
Decisions about tobacco must be made in the public interest, guided by evidence and focused on saving lives. They must not be dictated by criminal syndicates seeking to profit from addiction. Our public health policy is clear.
We want to stop people from taking up smoking, and we want to help smokers quit—for their health and longevity, for their families and for their household budgets. We want fewer children becoming dependent on nicotine, because we know that once you are hooked it's very hard to give up. We want fewer adults living with preventable illness and fewer families losing someone they love before their time.
About two-thirds of people who smoke actually want to give it up. That matters. It tells us that smokers are not asking government to make tobacco easier to obtain.
They want a fair choice to stop. They deserve practical, evidence based support and a lawful market that does not undermine their efforts through cheap, unregulated products sold by criminal networks. The latest evidence from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare shows that Australia has made real progress.
In 2025, 5.6 per cent of people aged 14 and over smoked daily, down from 8.3 per cent in 2022-23 and 19 per cent in 2001. Among adults, the daily smoking rate fell to a record low of 5.8 per cent. Daily vaping has stabilised, although nicotine use amongst young people remains a serious concern.
These are hard won public health gains, and we must protect them. But national progress can hide local inequality. AIHW data shows that in 2022-23 11 per cent of Tasmanians aged 14 and over smoked daily compared with 8.3 per cent nationally.
The AIHW also reports that people living in the most disadvantaged areas were 3.3 times as likely to smoke daily as people in the most advantaged areas. That evidence is highly relevant to Braddon. My electorate includes regional, rural and remote communities where disadvantage, distance and access to services shape health outcomes and tobacco harm remains a serious local issue.
Smoking contributes to cancers, heart disease, stroke and chronic lung conditions. Second-hand smoke also harms adults and children, while exposure during pregnancy can affect both the pregnant woman and the baby. The financial burden of smoking is huge.
AIHW reports that the estimated social cost of tobacco in 2020-21 was $155.4 billion and was projected to reach $159.7 billion in 2022-23. Those costs include premature death, illness and the provision of health care. At the household level, smoking also takes money away from groceries, power bills, rent, school costs and the everyday things that matter to families.
AIHW data reinforce that cost and health are powerful reasons for smokers to change. In 2022-23, 53 per cent of smokers who tried to quit or change their smoking behaviour said tobacco costs too much, while 45 per cent said it was affecting their health or fitness. That is why support to quit and firm regulation and enforcement belong together.
A criminal market that sells cheaper illicit tobacco works directly against the choices that many smokers are trying really hard to make. The sale of illicit tobacco is not a harmless bargain or a victimless crime. A global surplus of extremely cheap tobacco is being exploited by transnational organised crime, which targets profitable markets regardless of public health laws.
The trade undermines tobacco control measures, deprives the community of revenue, damages legitimate businesses and gives criminal groups money to fund further offending. The violence associated with the illegal trade, including threats, intimidation, arson and other offending, is a danger to workers, to small businesses and to our local communities. Every illicit pack of cigarettes sold strengthens a criminal business model.
It exposes consumers to unregulated products and undercuts responsible retailers who follow the law, pay their taxes and look after their staff. Australia's long-term fall in smoking did not happen by accident. It came through sustained action, including education, restrictions on advertising, smoke-free environments, plain packaging, health warnings and support to quit.
Importantly, it also came from a tobacco excise, which acted to discourage people from taking up smoking and encourage them to give up. This bill is the next step in the government's crackdown, building on the Combatting Illicit Tobacco Act 2026. It modernises a customs framework that has not kept pace with the scale and sophistication of today's market.
Criminal operators exploit complex supply chains, false documentation, warehouses, freight routes and distance from the border. The law must address conduct at every stage, from importation to possession, transport, storage and sale. This bill creates new offences for importing, possessing or conveying illicit tobacco.
Existing offences can require prosecutors to prove knowledge of the duty framework and an intention to defraud government revenue. Organised criminals have adapted by separating people further down the supply chain from the original importation. The new framework focuses more directly on the unlawful conduct and the objective circumstances surrounding it.
Observable indicators will help establish reasonable suspicion. These include noncompliant packaging or products, concealment, missing import paperwork and a sale price below the combined excise and GST. That gives the Australian Border Force and state and territory police practical, evidence based grounds to act without having to reconstruct every hidden step in a criminal supply chain.
The offences can apply to individuals and corporations, including retailers, distributors, warehouses and transport businesses that become involved in the trade. The bill also closes a gap involving duty-refundable tobacco supplied to duty-free operators. It will keep that tobacco under customs control until it is exported or lawfully sold to an eligible traveller, reducing the risk that products bought at duty-free prices are then diverted back into the black market.
For responsible duty-free operators, this largely formalises existing expectations rather than creating unnecessary new burdens. Seizure and disposal processes will also be streamlined. Border officers are dealing with unprecedented volumes of illicit tobacco, yet existing procedures can require hours of paperwork for individual seizures.
Faster processes will free frontline officers to focus on stopping tobacco, drugs, weapons and other dangerous goods. The licensing framework for depots, warehouses and customs brokers will be strengthened as well. Licence holders will be required not to facilitate prohibited tobacco activity and to take reasonable steps to prevent it within their operations.
These businesses occupy trusted positions in the movement of goods across our border. Stronger integrity settings protect reasonable operators while making it harder for criminal groups to hide behind legitimate supply chain infrastructure. The second major part of the bill strengthens the Proceeds of Crime Act.
Prosecution and seizure matter, but organised crime is driven by profit. Law enforcement must be able to restrain assets and recover the cash, property and other benefits generated by offending. The bill clarifies financial penalty orders, strengthens processes across jurisdictions and improves the calculation of unexplained wealth.
It also makes clear that fines and penalties are not expenses criminals can deduct from their unlawful gains. Together, these measures shift illicit tobacco away from the old calculation of high profit and low risk. They give border and law enforcement agencies clearer tools to prosecute offenders, secure and destroy unlawful products, protect the integrity of the supply chain and strip criminal groups of the rewards that they seek.
They also support a coordinated national response, because these networks do not respect state borders or administrative boundaries. For communities in Braddon, this is not an abstract debate. People expect governments to uphold the law, protect honest businesses and keep criminal violence out of our towns.
Retail workers should not face intimidation, and a legitimate shop should not lose trade to an operator selling illegal products without regard for tax, product controls or community safety. The Commonwealth's strong border laws must be matched by effective postborder action to close unlawful retail outlets. Many people began smoking when they were young, when social attitudes were different or before today's risks were as widely understood.
Our job is to make quitting easier, reduce barriers to support and prevent criminals from exploiting dependence. That means accessible cessation services, trusted advice from health professionals and support that works for our regional communities. It means recognising that people may make several attempts before they quit for good.
Every attempt should be encouraged because every day without smoking benefits health and reduces those household costs. Our approach must continue to put health first—helping people quit, preventing young people from taking up smoking and protecting families from the harms and costs of tobacco use. We cannot allow illicit sellers to undo that work by placing cheap, unregulated products within easy reach or by presenting smoking as normal, harmless or consequence free.
There is also a question of fairness. Australians who obey the law should not carry the cost while criminal operators pocket the proceeds. Responsible retailers should not be disadvantaged for meeting their obligations.
Taxpayers should not be left to fund the health and enforcement consequences while organised crime takes the profit. Strong enforcement and strong public health policy are not competing ideas. They reinforce one another.
Enforcement protects the measures that help drive smoking rates down. Public health action reduces demand, supports people to quit and prevents a new generation from becoming dependent. Together, they reduce harm and weaken the market on organised crime.
For someone who quits, the benefits can be deeply personal—more years with family, better breathing and fitness, less fear about future illness and more money available each week. For the wider community every successful quit means less preventative disease, less pressure on health services and a stronger, healthier workforce. That is the positive purpose behind this legislation.
It is not simply about punishment. It is about protecting the policy settings that help people live longer and healthier lives. It is about ensuring that criminal enterprises cannot profit by frustrating the efforts of Australians who want to quit.
We can be proud that smoking rates have fallen while being honest that the work is not finished. In Braddon and across Tasmania we must keep investing in prevention, trusted health advice and practical quitting support. We must also ensure that the law keeps pace with those who would undermine that effort for profit.
I commend the bill to the House.