Not long ago, the NSW Premier Chris Minns was arguing that changes to the federal excise on tobacco would be required to tackle the scourge of illegal tobacco and vapes.
But after being rebuffed by federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers, Minns has gone back to the drawing board, developing a new plan of stricter enforcement including giving more power to landlords to evict tenants caught selling illegal tobacco.
On Tuesday, Minns announced that NSW Health will be given power to close businesses for 28 days and apply to a court for an order to be extended to 12 months to crack down on sales of unlawful tobacco.
Those found with a commercial quantity of illegal cigarettes or vapes face maximum sentences of seven years in prison, and $1.5 million in fines.
In selling the changes, Minns told 2GB Radio that “Queensland has just introduced very serious similar laws, and I don’t want the marketplace migration across the border from Queensland into NSW because we’ve got softer laws”.
Rohan Pike, a former Australian Federal Police officer who created and led the Australian Border Force’s tobacco strike force, welcomed the NSW changes as a “good start” but noted there are difficulties in states going their own way.
“It really should be uniform, that’s what the illicit tobacco and e-cigarette commissioner’s office in Canberra was set up to do,” Pike said. “Victoria introduced laws eight months ago that were the strongest then; now they’re the weakest. Everyone has caught up and gone past them.”
Pike said Victoria’s new tobacco licensing scheme won’t commence until February 2026 and there is “zero talk whatsoever of store closures”. “We need uniform laws so crime doesn’t migrate interstate more than it is currently.”
In Queensland, the health department has the power to shut stores selling illegal tobacco, a power given to the consumer and business affairs minister in South Australia.
A spokesperson for Queensland Health Minister Tim Nicholls said the Crisafulli government is committed to stamping out “criminal chop shops and we welcome the news that the NSW government is following our example”.
“Queensland Health officers currently have the authority to issue interim closure orders for up to 72 hours and up to six months under a court order where there is evidence of either unlicensed or continued illicit tobacco or vape supply,” the spokesman said.
“More than 120 interim closure orders have been issued to date.”
Minns has said he doesn’t want police diverted from serious crimes like domestic violence to tackle the black market, but for Pike, the choice of NSW Health as the enforcer raises concerns.
“NSW Health have a poor track record in this regard,” he said. “I would suggest they lack the numbers and investigative know-how to stop what is an organised crime problem. Their resources are concentrated in capital cities, allowing [illegal tobacco sale] crime to run riot in regional areas.”
Pike is also concerned that what has been announced so far is a “watered down” version of what the NSW opposition proposed, which included “significant penalties” for shop owners if they knowingly rent out their premises to a store selling illegal tobacco.
“It shouldn’t be up to the landlords whether they kick a lessee out, they should be forced to kick them out,” he said.
On the Coalition side, inconsistencies exist between the federal opposition, which proposed ahead of the 2025 election making vapes legal and regulated, raising $3.6 billion in excise revenue, and the NSW opposition, which wants a harsher crackdown on vapes.
Theo Foukkare, chief executive of the Australian Association of Convenience Stores, said, “clearly the illegal tobacco trade has become a national crisis, and in the absence of harmonised Commonwealth legislation, enforcement and funding to the states to clean up this mess, it’s great to see both sides [in NSW] working together to try and eradicate the illegal tobacco and vape trade”.
“Every effort needs to be applied to stop this illegal activity, including criminal time, massive fines, store closure or shut down powers, bad landlords being on the hook and good landlords being given protection to terminate leases without any recourse,” he said.
But Foukkare noted that “as long as we have illegal packs of 20 [cigarettes] available for $10 and the same legal pack costing up to $50, the illegal tobacco trade will continue to boom”.
Extracted in full from: https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/more-vape-penalties-on-the-way-but-will-they-be-harder-to-buy-20250722-p5mgwr
