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

Mr GEE (Calare) (16:46): The explosion in the sale of illegal tobacco and vapes across our country is set to go down as one of the greatest policy failures in Australia's history. This is not only a health crisis; this is not only a revenue and taxation crisis; this is now a full-blown law and order crisis. Right across our country, from our smallest country towns in regional Australia to our largest city streets, illegal tobacco shops are the new boom industry, and the government's policy of repeatedly hiking taxes on tobacco has clearly failed catastrophically.

The tax on tobacco has been made so high that it has created a thriving market in illegal tobacco products around Australia. It has created a boom industry for the crooks, criminals and organised crime syndicates. It is outrageous.

We have seen a 4.3-fold increase in the excise on tobacco since 2013. Back in the middle of last year, when I first brought up a policy proposal to slash the excise, the tax on a single pack of 20 cigarettes was $28.06. Today, following further tax hikes through automatic indexation, that excise has ballooned to over $31 per pack.

That's more than $1.55 per single cigarette just in tax. We need to slash the tax on tobacco. We need to pull the rug out from under the feet of the organised criminal syndicates and gangs that are running this industry.

Since calling for the slashing of the excise on tobacco last year, I'm pleased to see that my policy position has been plagiarised by One Nation, the Liberals and the Nationals. It's very heartening to see that my ideas are once again being lifted by these political parties. Originality is not their strong suit, and I can look back on bills that I brought to this place.

My bill to stop the buying of residential property in Australia by foreigners for two years—that's the ban on foreign buying of residential property—was plagiarised by the opposition and then plagiarised by the government, and it is now, in fact, policy. You have my bill to protect prime agricultural land. As soon as the Nationals got a whiff that that was in here, they had to rush in with their own.

I'm not sure that it's going to save them. Then you had my gas reservation policy, which I took to the last election. It was very clearly set out in the election platform that I took to the people of Calare.

Again, it was plagiarised by the Liberals and Nationals and then plagiarised by the government. So there you go—they are getting the message. But the point is that when you push this tax on tobacco to eye-watering levels you do not eradicate demand.

You simply hand a multibillion-dollar market to criminal networks. That is what is happening here. It's created a boom industry for crooks.

The ABS, the Australian Bureau of Statistics, has estimated that 80 per cent of cigarettes and vapes consumed in Australia last year were illegal. Even if that is at the higher end of estimates, the figure is still unbelievably high; we all know that. How much federal excise has been lost through this misguided policy?

Estimates vary, but it's between $7.7 billion and $11 billion. Do you have any idea how many Great Western Highways we could have fixed with that, or how many roads and hospitals and schools we could have built and fixed with that money? Then there is the violence: the firebombings, the extortion and the hold-ups that are plaguing our communities, from our smallest villages and towns to our largest cities—more than 200 firebombings since 2023; that is staggering.

And this is all through a government policy. This has been created by the government. It's the greatest policy fail of its type since prohibition in the United States.

I feel really sorry for the legitimate businesses out there who work hard and do their best to employ people. Recently I was at the opening of the new SPAR supermarket at Bloomfield near Orange Hospital. One of the issues the owners raised with me was illegal tobacco and how their sales have plummeted because the sales of illegal tobacco have skyrocketed, and all it has done is enrich criminals.

These business owners are hardworking people who employ local people, make big investments—major investments in our area—and what are we doing to support their businesses? We are handing a new business to organised crime. Nobody in government seems to know which stores are selling legal products and which are selling black-market goods.

I mean, you can see them driving around our areas. It is not a secret. In fact, some of them even boldly put up signs advertising vapes—which are illegal, because vapes need to be sold through pharmacies.

That's how blatant the disregard for the law is and how ineffective the enforcement has been. And every few months we get a new announcement from the government saying, 'Yep, we're going to do it this time; we're going to crack down on the illegal trade in tobacco and vapes.' It always comes out with a press release, and sometimes there's a press conference. They do a bit of work here and there, but the illegal trade flourishes nevertheless.

So, as I said, since last year I've been calling on the government to take direct, commonsense action and slash this excise and back it up with genuine enforcement. That also needs to be backed up by resources. I know that in the past the federal government has tended to push this onto the states—in my case, the New South Wales government—but there's only so much they can do.

I think they're trying. But, honestly, they're fighting a losing battle. The reality is that you cannot tax your way out of this law-and-order crisis.

You cannot simply try enforcement on one hand while creating business opportunities for criminals on the other. So I'm pleased that other parties have now copied, plagiarised, my proposal to slash the excise on tobacco. I'm pleased to see them coming around to the reality on the ground.

But talk alone will not fix this crisis. The state and federal governments need to follow through with an effective enforcement regime and system that stamps out the illegal trade coupled with a complete overhaul of these exorbitant taxes that have been the default position and that are creating this flourishing trade in illegal tobacco, which has been a major boost for organised crime.

I think that is undeniable. While the government assures us that action is being taken, I don't think government action on this has been anywhere near enough. It hasn't been effective.

It's as simple as that. The safety of our communities and the health of our residents are too important to risk. This cannot go on.

Twenty-four thousand people a year die from smoking related illnesses. This is a health crisis. This is a 'law and order' crisis.

This is a massive policy fail. We cannot keep handing organised crime a flourishing business. We need to be supporting legitimate businesses in our states and in Australia.

Action is needed on this issue now, and the government has dragged its feet on this for too long. So I would urge the government to take action to not only protect the health of Australians but also protect Australians safety and clamp down and do something on this 'law and order' crisis that is sweeping the country through government policy settings. If you do that, you'll actually get more revenue to pay for the schools, roads, hospitals and all of the things that our communities so desperately need.

Action on illegal tobacco and vapes is needed right now. What the government has done so far has not been good enough. Fix this problem.

Take effective action immediately.