Portfolio — 24 June 2026

Assistant Minister Matt Thistlethwaite moved the second reading of the Combatting Illicit Tobacco Bill 2026 in the House on 24 June, framing the legislation as a direct strike at organised crime networks that exploit the illicit tobacco trade [TA-260622-house-e61cfd068b50:s078]. The scale of the problem anchors the government's case: the Illicit Tobacco and E-cigarette Commissioner estimates the market at $4.1–$6.9 billion in 2024–25, with criminal profits of $4–$7 billion flowing into drug trafficking and related harms [TA-260622-house-e61cfd068b50:s078].

Those figures give the bill its urgency and underpin the breadth of its legislative reach.

The bill operates on three simultaneous fronts. It raises penalties for illicit tobacco offences and aligns them with serious organised-crime benchmarks. It expands law-enforcement powers through amendments to the Customs Act, Excise Act, Proceeds of Crime Act, Taxation Administration Act, and Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act.

It also strengthens the proceeds-of-crime regime — including new powers to access telecommunications data — to strip criminal networks of the financial returns that sustain their operations. The cross-portfolio reach of these amendments is notable: the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act changes touch Home Affairs and Communications domains simultaneously, while the Proceeds of Crime Act amendments engage the Attorney-General's portfolio.

Thistlethwaite pointed to existing investment as the operational foundation the bill builds on: since 2023–24 the government has committed $346 million to the Australian Border Force for illicit tobacco enforcement, with a further $21.3 million allocated in the 2025–26 budget to sustain the national disruption group and the Illicit Tobacco and E-cigarette Coordination Forum [TA-260622-house-e61cfd068b50:s078].

The bill's legislative architecture is therefore intended to give those enforcement bodies sharper tools and heavier penalties to deploy against networks already under operational pressure.

The government's stated approach is to combine deterrence, investigative capacity, and asset seizure into a single framework — choke the financial incentive, remove the profits, and raise the cost of participation for organised crime. The parliament debate record available covers Thistlethwaite's contribution; Opposition positions on the bill are not captured in the records for this sitting day and should be treated as a gap pending further Hansard publication.