Here are a few hard facts. Smoking kills. Smoking kills more than 20,000 Australians a year. That's 66 people every day. There is no safe level of tobacco use. Smoking kills. Vapes are no better than cigarettes and in many instances may be much worse. And, while Australia's national accounts suggest that the purchase of legal tobacco has halved since 2020 and AIHW data shows that the number of smokers in Australia continues to drop to record lows, we know that rises in nicotine residue in wastewater supplies show us that some people who do smoke are increasingly using products with higher nicotine levels—that is, illegal tobacco and vapes, unregulated. Who knows what may be in them. Some vapes have been shown to have the same amount of nicotine as nine entire packets of cigarettes. If big tobacco doesn't care that their product will kill you, imagine how much organised crime cares.

It is estimated that, in 2025, illicit tobacco constituted 80 per cent of the total consumption of tobacco in Australia, an increase of 12 per cent since 2017. The total value of the illicit market is estimated to be between $4.1 billion and $6.9 billion. Legal tobacco continues to pose a significant threat to the health of the Australian public. The unregulated illicit tobacco market also poses a significant threat to the Australian public, our health system, our communities and our economy. To be blunt, people die and are dying from smoking every single day, and these criminals are facilitating Australians' deaths.

The problem is that Australia's current regulatory framework with respect to illegal tobacco is outdated. It is not fit for purpose. While criminal syndicates and organisations are getting more and more sophisticated, Australia's current regulatory framework is an attractive proposition for these criminals. It's low risk and high reward. It was designed to target minor revenue infractions, but these are multinational outfits that operate outside and inside Australia. They are a global operation. They are lawyered up. They consider product losses due to Border Force and other regulatory activities to be a cost of doing business. They understand Australia's laws and actions against illicit tobacco inside out.

These criminal organisations and syndicates are motivated by one thing: money—nothing more, nothing less. They don't care about the individuals at the receiving end of their illegal activity. They don't care that over 20,000 Australians die every year as a result of smoking and that a fair number of them are smoking their illegal tobacco products. They don't care that their products don't adhere to any standards. Not only do they not care but it's probably a positive to their business model if their products have additional nicotine in them, making them even more addictive. An addict is a great target market—that's their business model. Currently, internationally, there is a massive oversupply of cheap tobacco, and they can produce cigarettes at an input cost of mere cents.

Organised crime has industrialised and commercialised illicit tobacco at scale purely for their own profit. Our response needs to keep pace with the sophistication of the challenge and the scale of the challenge. But we also need to be clear about what we're tackling here and not undermine our world-class public health measures that have resulted in record low rates of smoking. We are tackling organised crime here. We are not competing in the market with them. We are not enabling legal tobacco to become a more affordable product, as big tobacco would like us to do. Smoking kills, whether it is legal tobacco or illegal tobacco. Smoking kills, and we need to continue our world-leading efforts to help Australians quit tobacco products and vapes and to stop a new generation of smokers and vapers from starting the habit.

This bill is about tackling the organised crime that is profiting from illegal tobacco and all the additional societal issues that come from organised crime operating within the country. We know that this works. Queensland's recent crackdown on illegal tobacco resulted in a 55 per cent increase in sales of legal tobacco—people leaving the illegal market and going back to legal tobacco—but, more importantly, a doubling of the calls to Quitline.

The Customs and Other Legislation Amendment (Illicit Tobacco Enforcement Modernisation and Other Measures) Bill 2026 addresses these deficiencies in Australia's current regulatory framework. It will introduce new offences for the import, possession and distribution of illegal tobacco, including an aggravated offence. Authorities will no longer have to prove criminal intent. Instead, they only need to prove that their suspicion of criminal activity satisfies one of the indicators—for example, non-compliant retail packaging, non-compliant tobacco products, concealing tobacco sales to avoid detection or underselling below market value. And illicit tobacco will be designated a tier 1 prohibited good in line with other goods that are controlled at the border.

This bill will streamline seizure practices because authorities are bogged down by and are spending excessive time on paperwork and the documentation process of individual seizures. It will mean additional licensing for facilitators and intermediaries who maintain illicit tobacco in their storage facilities, freight networks, depots and other supply chain infrastructure while operating under the cloak of legitimacy. Further restrictions will be placed on customs brokers and other licence holders from participating in the supply of illicit tobacco—a positive obligation that will be imposed on them to show that they've taken all necessary measures and met all requirements to avoid facilitating the importation of illicit tobacco. These measures will improve regulatory oversight, tightening our control over the supply chain and enforcement at every point along the distribution trajectory of illicit tobacco.

This bill will also target the criminals themselves. It will ensure that criminals can't profit from their operations and, in the process, will deter potential criminals from engaging in this conduct. It will, for example, allow courts to obtain the necessary documents and other relevant information after the commencement of and during a proceeding or criminal investigation. It will free authorities from the jurisdictional limitations that may currently prevent them from acquiring these documents. It will make changes to the pecuniary penalty order framework. This means that criminals will no longer be able to take the risk of relatively minor fines and penalties when they engage in illegal activity while profiting from their supply of illicit tobacco, which currently is seen by organised crime as a bearable cost of doing business. This measure will comprehensively deprive individuals of the benefits gained from their offending. It will take away the assets of criminal actors—because crime should not and will not pay. This is not a victimless crime. People are literally dying. This bill ensures that total wealth is properly calculated for the purposes of determining unexplained wealth or identifying tainted property during a criminal proceeding. As a result, confiscation procedures and prosecutions will be streamlined, and individuals won't stand to gain from their illegal conduct.

The Customs and Other Legislation Amendment (Illicit Tobacco Enforcement Modernisation and Other Measures) Bill complements the Albanese Labor government's National Tobacco Strategy 2023 to 2030, which aims to reduce many of these impacts and harms. In 2024, the government committed more than $365 million to tackling the illicit tobacco black market. We established the Illicit Tobacco National Disruption Group—in addition to the Illicit Tobacco Taskforce from 2018—made up of the Australian Border Force, the Australian Federal Police, state and territory authorities, the Criminal Intelligence Commission, the Therapeutic Goods Administration and health and tobacco authorities. This group targets, disrupts and dismantles these crime syndicates and organisations—because what is needed is a whole-of-government approach that includes both traditional and non-traditional agencies to create an environment in which criminals dealing in illicit tobacco cannot and do not have the opportunity to thrive.

That is also why, in our most recent budget, the Albanese Labor government invested $33.5 million in the Criminal Assets Confiscation Taskforce to target the proceeds of illicit tobacco, including $17 million to state and territory law enforcement agencies, because we can see that, where states and territories are cracking down on organised crime and their illicit tobacco products, illicit tobacco reduces; and, where they don't, organised crime runs rife. We will continue to expand the powers of law enforcement and increase penalties and consequences. We know that illicit tobacco is a global market. Because it defies defined borders, it requires a combined response that pre-empts illicit tobacco long before its arrival in Australia, that stops illicit tobacco at the border if and when it does arrive and that continues to relentlessly pursue illicit tobacco once it's in this country. Every checkpoint along the journey needs to be guarded.

But we know that our actions to clamp down on illicit tobacco are working. In 2025-26, more than 2,300 tonnes of illicit tobacco and 13.2 million vapes were seized by the Australian Border Force. That's an increase of 496 per cent in cigarette stick seizures and 232 per cent in illicit tobacco seizures since the previous financial year. These are record levels of seizures. We've seen massive crackdowns across the country, from retail and convenience stores to your local pubs and hairdressers, and we've seen the recent successes in Queensland.

My home state of South Australia has taken a lead on this, with more than 320 shop closures and, as the South Australian government reports, increases to the cost of illicit tobacco, removing the basic rationale for criminals to operate successfully. Smoking rates are coming down, falling to 5.8 per cent among adults in 2025 from 7.7 per cent in 2022-23. Vaping rates have flatlined, and the number of young Australians between the ages of 14 and 17 who have never vaped is fast growing. Vapes were initially sold as a way of getting off smoking, but then they started being sold in colours, flavours and designs that appealed to children. Vapes are not safe. While we don't have 20 years of data to show long-term death rates, we do know that vapes kill now and vapes cause cancer now. Some of them have excessive amounts of nicotine and all sorts of other toxic chemicals. One vape can contain as much nicotine as nine packets of cigarettes, so they are no healthier than cigarettes—or, perhaps better worded, vapes are as toxic and as deadly as cigarettes.

We now know that vapes are a gateway drug to cigarettes. People who vape are five times more likely to start smoking, and just that proportion of the population, by itself, is estimated to cost the health system an extra $180 million per year. So, when big tobacco tries to get vapes legalised and deregulated—and some of those opposite led the charge on this, trying to stop our previous legislation restricting the import and sale of vapes—we have to remember that smoking kills and vapes kill. We need to remember that big tobacco and organised crime are in it for the money. They don't care about the impact on the lives of Australians—our health, our life expectancy—or the impact that this has on our health system. They only care about making money, and addiction is their business model.

This bill is a massive stride forward, but there is so much more to do, and the important thing is that we stick to the path that we know works. I commend the bill to the House.

I rise to speak on the Customs and Other Legislation Amendment (Illicit Tobacco Enforcement Modernisation and Other Measures) Bill 2026. The coalition will not oppose this bill. We support sensible measures that give the Australian Border Force, the Australian Federal Police and other agencies stronger tools to intercept illegal tobacco, prosecute offenders and confiscate their criminal profits. But this legislation is not a comprehensive solution to Australia's illicit tobacco crisis. Australia's illicit tobacco trade has become a multibillion-dollar organised crime industry. It is linked to extortion, intimidation, firebombings and violence. It undermines public health, deprives Australians of billions of dollars in revenue and damages legitimate small and family businesses.

Convenience stores, newsagencies and service stations are already struggling with higher power bills, insurance premiums, rents, wages and supply costs. They obey the law, pay their taxes, employ local people and support their communities. Yet they are forced to compete with criminal enterprises that pay no excise, ignore packaging and licensing requirements and sell illegal products at a fraction of the lawful price. That is not fair competition. It is a displacement of legitimate businesses by organised crime.

In my electorate of Lyne, an illegal tobacco shop operated two doors down from my electorate office. It was raided, and is now closed. I welcome that action, as do legitimate local retailers. Another one was another two doors down the road. The fact that it could operate so openly illustrates the brazenness with which this trade has spread. These businesses are not hidden in back alleys. They operate in ordinary shopping strips beside retailers doing the right thing. I found another one only yesterday in North Haven. It's very easy to spot them. With the purple and all the windows covered, it's very easy to know that it's an illegal tobacco shop. Every illegal outlet allowed to remain open sends a terrible message to the honest retailer down the road: 'You carry every cost of compliance while the criminal business undercuts you and appears to operate with impunity.'

The scale of this crisis is staggering. The Illicit Tobacco and E-cigarette Commissioner estimated that illicit tobacco represented between 50 and 60 per cent of tobacco sold in Australia in 2024-25. The illicit market is estimated to be worth between $4.1 billion and $6.9 billion annually. Estimated excise and customs duty evasion is between $7.7 billion and $11.8 billion. The Australian Bureau of Statistics found that nicotine consumption increased by almost 40 per cent between 2017 and 2025, with most of that increase occurring after 2021. Legal tobacco sales have collapsed, but nicotine consumption has increased. Too many customers have moved into the illegal market.

This bill contains six schedules addressing different parts of the enforcement framework. Schedule 1 creates new offences for importing, possessing or conveying unlawfully imported tobacco products. It also establishes an aggravated offence for more serious conduct, including offending involving larger quantities. The bill introduces objective and observable circumstances that can establish a reasonable suspicion that tobacco was unlawfully imported. These can include an implausibly low price, non-compliant packaging or health warnings, missing required markings, or an inability to demonstrate a lawful source and supply chain. These changes should make it easier to act against distributors, warehouse operators and retailers dealing in clearly illegal tobacco.

Schedule 2 provides for unlawfully imported tobacco to be prescribed as a tier 1 good under the Customs Act. That recognises that illicit tobacco is no longer simply a revenue compliance issue. It's a high-risk, organised crime commodity causing serious economic and community harm.

Schedule 3 addresses duty refundable tobacco. This includes tobacco supplied to duty-free operators for export or sale to eligible travellers.

Schedule 4 streamlines the seizure, forfeiture and disposal of illegal tobacco. The sheer volume of illegal tobacco being intercepted has imposed a substantial administrative burden on frontline officers. Officers can spend hours processing individual seizures rather than examining cargo or investigating criminal networks. The bill should allow products to be seized and destroyed more efficiently and prevent offenders from misusing administrative claim procedures to delay their disposal.

Schedule 5 strengthens licensing arrangements for customs brokers, depots and licensed warehouses. These provisions recognise that organised crime depends upon access to warehouses, freight networks, customs expertise and apparently legitimate commercial infrastructure.

Schedule 6 amends the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002. It strengthens production-order provisions used to obtain documents during investigations, changes pecuniary penalty arrangements to improve the recovery of criminal benefits and clarifies how total wealth is calculated in unexplained-wealth proceedings. These are worthwhile measures.

Confiscating a shipment, though, is not enough. Authorities must be able to identify the people directing the enterprise, follow the money and recover the assets obtained from and through criminal activity. That is why the coalition will not stand in the way of this bill. But these measures are directed primarily at enforcement after illegal tobacco has entered the supply chain. The bill does not confront the price differential making the illicit market so profitable. It does not contain the coalition's proposed $200 million enforcement surge, establish a regulated adult market for alternative nicotine products or fund a comprehensive national education campaign.

Nor does it adequately address the movement of illicit tobacco sales online. An ABC investigation found dozens of websites advertising cheap tobacco and vapes from what appeared to be ordinary online stores. Reporters purchased a carton of illegal cigarettes for $150—around one-third of the equivalent legal price. They paid by bank transfer, communicated through WhatsApp, received an Australia Post tracking number and had the cigarettes delivered within three business days.

The Australian Association of Convenience Stores has warned that Australia Post's network is being exploited to distribute illegal tobacco. Australia Post cannot reasonably inspect every parcel, and responsibility should not fall on local postal workers, delivery drivers or licensed post office operators. Indeed, licensed post office operators have raised concerns about Australia Post's corporate leadership increasingly orientating the business around parcel delivery. If parcel delivery is central to Australia Post's commercial future, its corporate leadership must accept the responsibilities accompanying that strategy. Its leadership has an obligation to ensure its systems and infrastructure are not exploited to help criminal gangs distribute illegal tobacco.

The bill's new conveyance offences apply to corporations as well as individuals. The minister has expressly said that transport and logistics companies may be investigated and prosecuted. However, the bill does not make Australia Post automatically liable when illegal goods are concealed in a parcel, nor does it appear to impose on Australia Post a specific obligation to identify and report suspicious consignments. The government should clarify how the conveyance offences would apply if a transport corporation became aware that its network was being systematically exploited but failed to respond appropriately. Australia Post should be working closely with the ABF, AFP, AUSTRAC, Therapeutic Goods Administration and state police to identify repeat bulk senders, false sender information, suspicious parcel volumes and accounts linked to illegal tobacco websites. We need action against the whole online operation—the website, the messaging account, the payment facility, the warehouse, the sender and the criminal profits.

Organised crime is commodity agnostic. These syndicates do not care whether their profits come from tobacco, vapes, alcohol, drugs, stolen vehicles or extortion. They follow the money. In Victoria, the threats, firebombings, rammings and extortion associated with the tobacco wars are now being seen in attacks on bars, nightclubs, restaurants and liquor businesses. Police raids associated with so-called alcohol wars have uncovered illegal tobacco, cash and weapons. There are also reports of sophisticated criminal syndicates stealing Australian vehicles and sending them offshore in shipping containers. We should not claim without evidence that every one of these crimes is controlled by a single organisation, but networks developed to import and distribute illicit tobacco can use the same warehouses, transport routes, money-laundering arrangements, encrypted communications and criminal facilitators for other commodities.

There is an even more disturbing potential national security dimension. Kazem Hamad, an alleged offshore leader associated with Victoria's illicit tobacco wars, was deported to Iraq and accused of continuing to direct criminal operations affecting Australia. Public reporting has linked criminal intermediaries associated with his network to activity allegedly directed by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. These serious allegations must be expressed carefully. They do not establish that Iran controls Australia's illicit tobacco trade. They do, however, demonstrate the risk created when violent, well-financed criminal networks become entrenched and are potentially available to foreign state actors. This is therefore an organised crime and border security challenge with potentially broader national security consequences.

That makes recent reports about Australian Border Force deeply concerning. Former senior officers have described the Illicit Tobacco Taskforce as an underresourced operation too focused on seizure numbers and insufficiently equipped to dismantle criminal networks. They have alleged that experienced personnel have left, investigations have been abandoned and intelligence gathering capability is inadequate. The ABF disputes any suggestion that its operational capability has been diminished, but this parliament cannot ignore these warnings. A new offence will not inspect a container. A higher penalty will not conduct surveillance, trace criminal money or prepare a complex prosecution. The powers in this bill must be backed by experienced officers, intelligence capability, modern technology and secure, long-term funding.

The government must also confront the policy settings making this market extraordinarily profitable. In the 2023-24 budget, the Albanese government imposed an additional five per cent tobacco excise increase in each of the three successive years, on top of twice-yearly indexation. The government forecasts an additional $3.3 billion in revenue. Instead, tobacco revenue fell dramatically as consumers moved into the illicit market.

Reducing smoking remains an important public health objective, but responsible government requires examining the real world consequences of policy, nor should we simply blame individual consumers, particularly people struggling with addiction and severe cost-of-living pressures. Responsibility lies with the criminals who are exploiting them and with a government that is refusing to confront the price differential that is sustaining this market. This is where the coalition's policy differs fundamentally from the government's bill.

The bill strengthens powers to pursue offenders within an illicit market that is already deeply entrenched. The coalition proposes to attack the commercial foundations of that market. Our policy includes an 80 per cent reduction in tobacco excise, reducing the excise component of a standard packet of 20 cigarettes from around $30 to approximately $6, with the rate reviewed after two years. The purpose is not to encourage smoking. Smoking is harmful, and we must continue to help Australians quit. The purpose is to collapse the extraordinary price advantage enjoyed by organised crime and return consumers to a lawful regulated market. The coalition would support that reform with a $200 million nationwide law enforcement blitz, delivering more raids, arrests, seizures, investigations, shop closures and border disruption. We would establish a legal, regulated and taxed adult market for nicotine vapes and nicotine pouches, with strong protections for children. We would also invest $60 million in a national education campaign exposing the organised crime behind illicit tobacco and reinforcing the dangers of smoking and nicotine addiction.

The government's bill changes enforcement laws. The coalition's policy combines enforcement, tax reform, regulation, education and demand reduction. The success of this legislation will be measured by its results: whether illegal shops close and stay closed, whether online distribution is disrupted, whether criminal assets are confiscated, whether syndicates are dismantled and whether legitimate Australian businesses can once again compete fairly. Australia must not become a country where obeying the law places a business at a competitive disadvantage. We must stand with our law enforcement officers, licensed post office operators, legitimate retailers and communities threatened by this trade. The coalition supports the practical improvements contained in this bill, but we will continue to press for the comprehensive policy needed to destroy the illicit tobacco business model rather than merely managing the consequences of its continued growth.

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.

The Customs and Other Legislation Amendment (Illicit Tobacco Enforcement Modernisation and Other Measures) Bill 2026 is an important piece of legislation because this is an important conversation about illicit tobacco. There would not be any community across our country that has not been impacted by the scourge of illicit tobacco, its links to organised crime and, particularly in Victoria, the firebombings and associated crimes as syndicates have fought for control of the illicit tobacco market. In my community, the innocent business owners of Seville were impacted when an illegal tobacconist was firebombed a few years ago. It's taken many years for those businesses to get back up and running, and it's good to see that they're up and running. That is what we are talking about here: innocent people and innocent businesses impacted because of illegal crime and illegal actions by organised crime.

Let's understand the scale of the problem and how much it has grown in the last few years, in particular in the last decade. In 2017, about 12 per cent of all cigarettes sold were illicit. As we come to 2025, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the government's own numbers, 80 per cent of all tobacco consumed in Australia was illicit. There are many Australians who seek to do the right thing but realise that they can't because the price difference between an illicit tobacco cigarette and a legal tobacco cigarette is so significant, and this is driven by the excise that the government puts onto cigarettes. Now, because of this growth to 80 per cent, the illicit tobacco market in 2024-25 was estimated to be $6.9 billion. That's $6.9 billion of revenue and profit going to organised crime in this country to do things like fund terrorism, fund other illegal drugs and fund other criminal behaviour. That is the reality of what we are talking about.

It was interesting that the member for Braddon said, 'Organised crime is driven by profit.' The member for Braddon is correct. If the member for Braddon acknowledges that growth and acknowledges that organised crime is driven by profit, the logical next step is to take away the profit from organised crime. How do you do that? You reduce the excise and take away the differential between legal and illegal cigarettes. That's what the coalition proposes, because the coalition has recognised that this is a significant issue. It's something we've been working on for a long time. Angus Taylor, when he became the leader in February, created the Coalition Illicit Tobacco Taskforce, led by the member for Monash, Mary Aldred, and Senator Richard Colbeck, to do the work to get the settings right and crush this organised crime network, protect Australians and make sure that they are safe in their communities. The member for Monash and Senator Colbeck did a lot of great work to engage with stakeholders and get across the detail. They understood what needed to be done. That's why the coalition plan will work—because we've done the work to make sure that it's there. We will reduce the excise by 80 per cent. We will take away the profits from organised crime. As the member for Braddon said, we will take away their profits. We will also invest another $200 million into enforcement to squeeze them at both ends—squeeze their profits, confiscate their illicit tobacco and lock them up. This is a multitargeted approach that was six months in the making, because that's what good policy takes. It takes time and effort to get it right, and the coalition have got it right, led by the member for Monash and Senator Colbeck under the leadership of the opposition leader, Angus Taylor. He knew this was a big issue.

But what do we see from the government? We see two bills rushed through the parliament in the last month, conveniently after the coalition announced their illicit tobacco policy. They are two bills that we support because something is better than nothing, but they don't go to the heart of undermining the organised crime model. Let's also understand the flow-on impacts of this business model, with these stores and vapes. Let's be serious. Not one Australian actually thinks that the government's plan to sell vapes through pharmacies is working. Is there one Australian walking into a pharmacist to say, 'Can I order my vapes, please—can I pay for my vapes?' No, they're walking into illicit tobacco stores to buy their vapes there. Do we really think that these illicit tobacco stores that are knowingly breaking the law see a child that's 13 or 14 or 15 or 12 walking into the store and say, 'There's a 12-year-old; I better not sell them a vape or a cigarette'? Of course not. Of course they are going to sell those vapes and those illicit tobacco products to those young children, because they do not care about the law. But we have to put up with sanctimonious lectures from the Minister for Health and Ageing, pretending that the government have solved the vaping issue in our schools and with our young people because they gave the responsibility to pharmacists. Let's remember that, when the minister for health and the Prime Minister gave vape sales to pharmacies, they didn't consult with pharmacists. Their original plan was for it to be through GPs, and they backflipped and changed to do a deal with the Greens to get it through the parliament. Pharmacists don't want to sell vapes. I talk to my local pharmacists all the time. They're there to help people. They're there to look after their health, not to sell them vapes.

But this is the world we live in under the Albanese Labor government. It's all about headlines, all about spin and all about pretending that they do the right thing, but they're not actually making a difference. It's worse than that. They are not only not making a difference; they are making it worse. They are actively making it worse. But the government have finally wised up because the coalition have led this conversation. In question time, after the coalition announced their policy, the Prime Minister was asked repeatedly about the excise and whether he would confirm that he was not going to make a change, and this prime minister refused to answer. Literally, question after question, he wouldn't answer. He handballed it to the Treasurer. He handballed it to the minister for health. At one stage we thought we were having an audition for the next prime minister. This prime minister didn't have the courage to stand up and defend his own policy. He let his ministers do that, and he now lets his backbenchers stand up and regurgitate talking points, knowing that this prime minister is going to flip. He's going to flip and he's going to change on the excise because, in his heart of hearts, he knows that the excise system is broken.

But we'll hear some more speeches from those opposite pretending. I know they're well meaning. I genuinely sometimes feel sorry for Labor backbenchers that they have to regurgitate the talking points knowing that they're wrong. We've had some of them speak out with a little bit of background. They didn't put their names to it, but we had one talk about how the Minister for Small Business is a terrible small-business minister and doesn't know what they're doing. We had multiple backbenchers talk out, criticising the Treasurer, saying that he has been a disaster and has failed multiple times with his budget. I wonder how long it will be before we get an unnamed backbencher starting to criticise the Prime Minister and the minister for health because of this failed policy. That is what we're going to see when they flip and those opposite will have to come in here and talk about how they got it wrong and how, suddenly, cutting the excise is the right thing to do. That is the joy of being a member of the government: you've got to follow what the Prime Minister says.

But this issue is building, and, particularly as a Victorian, this issue does not stop with illicit tobacco. We need to cut the excise, put money into enforcement and crush these organised crime gangs because this issue has now moved to alcohol. In Victoria, because of illicit tobacco and illicit alcohol and a weak Labor government under Ben Carroll that has refused to hold criminals to account, we have seen firebombings of hospitality venues and kidnappings of hospitality operators. Why has this happened? Because there is now a market for illicit alcohol, because, again, the differential between the excise on alcohol and illegal alcohol is so significant. The scary part for Victorians and for every other Australian, when it comes to illicit alcohol, is that the firebombings, the kidnappings and the beatings have happened quicker than anyone expected, and the reason is obvious and straightforward. The organised crime organisations already have the business model. They already have the networks in place. They already have the young people that are willing to take the money to commit these crimes, knowing that even if they get caught, under Ben Carroll and the Labor government in Victoria, they'll get a slap on the wrist and be let out on bail so they can go about their business. That is why we have seen crime out of control in Victoria, because of a weak Labor government, fuelled and funded by organised crime, fuelled and funded by illicit tobacco and now fuelled and funded by illicit alcohol.

That is why we need to act. That is why something needs to change, because these criminals are getting more brazen. They have more resources than ever and, of course, they're not going to walk away without a fight. Six point nine billion, and the government think tweaking around the edges and increasing penalties by even a little bit is going to make a difference? It is absolutely not. Once you break their business model, every time you confiscate illicit tobacco it hurts them so much more, because it impacts their profit. That is what you need to do. You need to understand the root cause.

For 4½ years the Australian people have had to put up with a government and a prime minister who is an expert at political spin and an expert at political optics, who says one thing but delivers another for the Australian people, and this bill and the one before it are two classic examples of this. Let's be clear: these bills are being introduced into this House only because of the policy and the work of the coalition to lead the conversation on illicit tobacco. But these bills alone will not make a difference, not when you are dealing with $6.9 billion that funds other illegal activity. It funds organised crime organisations to pay young people to steal cars, to take those cars to the port and to send them to black markets in the Middle East. In Australia, 69 per cent of all car thefts happen in Victoria—again, because you've got a government weak on crime but fuelled and funded by the profits made by illicit tobacco.

As a coalition we want to keep Australians safe, we want to protect our way of life and we want to make sure that we have a strong economy. But that only happens if criminals are held to account and if we crush the organised crime networks in Victoria and across the country, and that starts with having the courage to say the current system is not working. We need to break the model, and we need to arrest these criminals and confiscate their goods. If illicit tobacco went from 12 per cent in 2017 to 80 per cent in 2025, in a couple of years there will be no legal tobacco products left. It will all be run by organised crime, and that will fuel more violence in all of our communities.

I rise to speak in strong support of the Customs and Other Legislation Amendment (Illicit Tobacco Enforcement Modernisation and Other Measures) Bill 2026. This bill is the next vital step in the Albanese Labor government's systematic crackdown on organised crime syndicates that have, for too long, sought to operate in the shadows of our economy and have cast a dangerous pall over our communities. For years the illicit tobacco trade was treated as a victimless tax dodge. The reality on the ground in our suburbs, however, tells a more sinister story. What we are witnessing is an organised crime crisis that threatens community safety, undermines legitimate small businesses and targets our children. The Albanese Labor government will never surrender our nation's public health policy to criminal syndicates or big tobacco, whose entire business model relies on hooking a new generation on nicotine.

Illicit tobacco is a global issue. Across the world, regardless of local tax rates, countries are battling illicit cartels. A packet of 20 cigarettes can be produced in South-East Asia for as little as 28c. Smuggled past our borders, those same cigarettes sell for $7 or even $8 a pack on the black market. The massive profit margins build a multibillion-dollar criminal war chest. And that money does not stay in tobacco. It funds illicit drug imports, cyber scams that rob our seniors and violent turf wars that put our neighbourhoods at risk. Rather than waving the white flag, our government has committed over $365 million since 2024 to combat illegal tobacco before it arrives at the border and across our communities. This bill amends the Customs Act 1901 and the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 to close legal loopholes, overhaul seizure rules, restore customs control and strip the profits straight out of the criminals' hands.

As member for Bullwinkel, I see these impacts firsthand. My electorate spans from the Perth Hills to the growing suburbs in the valley, home to hundreds of family run newsagents, convenience stores and service station operators. These are small business owners that do the right thing every day. They pay their taxes. They enforce strict age checks and support the local economy. When an illegal pop-up shop opens up down the road selling unregulated chop-chop and vapes at pocket money prices, it's not competition; it's economic sabotage. It draws intimidation, violence and criminal networks into our community shopping strips.

This issue is also deeply personal to me. As a nurse, I have seen the devastating end-stage consequences of tobacco use up close. I have held the hands of patients gasping for air, suffering through terminal emphysema and lung cancer. I have sat with families navigating the heartbreak of an illness that was entirely preventable. In clinical care, you fight to save lives one person at a time. But in this parliament, as legislators, we have the ability and responsibility to protect millions.

Smoking remains one of the leading causes of preventable disease in Australia. It kills 66 Australians every single day. Two in three long-term smokers will die of a smoking related illness, and tobacco accounts for 20 per cent of our cancer burden. Speaker, I remember—maybe you do too; maybe you're too young—when people smoked freely on buses, in aeroplanes and in offices, but we have come too far over the past three decades to let criminal syndicates torch that progress for a quick buck.

Some in the public debate have lost sight of Australia's extraordinary achievements in reducing smoking rates to among the lowest in the developed world. The latest Australian Institute of Health and Welfare data proves our policies are delivering results. Daily smoking among adults aged 18 and over has dropped to a historic low of 5.8 per cent, well below our 10 per cent target, representing 500,000 fewer daily smokers than just three years ago—half a million. For Australians aged 14 and over, daily smoking sits at 5.6 per cent. And after years of alarming increases, daily vaping has stabilised at 3.6 per cent, while overall current vape use has fallen from seven per cent to six per cent. These aren't just statistics; they represent the hospital beds spared and lives saved. But, as the Australian Council of Smoking CEO, Laura Hunter, pointed out, when a product that kills two in three long-term users is still sold across tens of thousands of retail outlets nationwide, it normalises supply and creates avenues for criminals to exploit it. That's why our enforcement must be unrelenting.

This government is backing our frontline agencies with unprecedented funding with $188.5 million in 2024-25 for the Australian Border Force to bolster interdiction; $156.7 million in 2025-26 to strengthen national compliance, including $49 million to expand the AFP led Criminal Assets Confiscation Taskforce; and $20.3 million in 2026-27 to support state and territory compliance, fund storage and disposal and monitor consumption trends.

We established the National Disruption Group led by the ABF, uniting Commonwealth, state and territory agencies against the entire supply chain. The results are record breaking. Pre border, working with international partners between December 2025 and March 2026, we stopped over 35.6 million cigarette sticks, 257 kilos of loose-leaf tobacco and half a million vapes before they ever reached our shores. At the border, in the 2025-26 year, the ABF seized over 2,300 tonnes of illicit tobacco and 13.2 million vaping devices. That is a staggering 496 per cent increase in cigarette stick seizures and a 232 per cent surge in domestic seizures. Under Operation PRINTWALL alone, the ABF intercepted more than a kiloton of tobacco in just four months.

There's also domestic confiscation. The AFP led taskforce has restrained over $47.5 million in criminal assets. AUSTRAC intelligence has triggered more than 700 suspicious matters reports, resulting in over a thousand illicit tobacco banking profiles being exited. The Multi Agency Strike Team has dismantled two major syndicates, charging seven individuals and seizing over 245,000 vapes and 60,000 nicotine pouches valued at over $12 million.

But the Commonwealth government cannot do this alone. State and territory compliance teams are also needed. The state and territory compliance teams have already shut down over a thousand illicit shops. In South Australia, closing more than 320 stores has driven up black market prices, altering the risk-reward equation for criminals. In Queensland, regional blitzes targeting 100 per cent of illicit outlets have collapsed local black markets and driven consumers back to legal channels. I also want to commend the work being done in Western Australia, my home state, by the Cook Labor government. Premier Roger Cook and health minister Meredith Hammat introduced nation-leading laws with penalties of up to $21 million for corporations, 15-year jail sentences and 12-month closure orders. Crucially, jurisdictions must back these powers with strong landlord penalties. If a commercial property owner knowingly leases a shopfront to an illicit tobacco operation targeting local kids, they are complicit in that enterprise, and we must shut those doors and keep them locked.

This bill modernises the Customs Act 1901 to remove outdated procedural hurdles. These reforms were developed in deep consultation with Health, Treasury, the ATO, the Attorney-General's Department, the CDPP and the AFP. The bill modernises offence provisions under part 13. Organised syndicates exploit the system using complex freight chains and front companies to mask intent. This bill introduces offences based on reasonable suspicion that goods were unlawfully imported or that importation would defraud the revenue. It also facilitates prescribing tobacco as a tier 1 good, unlocking serious penalties of up to 10 years. This bill restores customs control over duty-refundable tobacco. It overhauls seizure, notification and disposal provisions because currently syndicates use lengthy appeal windows and spurious return claims to tie up seized goods in Commonwealth warehouses at immense public expense. This bill introduces alternative notification methods, including direct, bulk and electronic notices, and prevents claims for the return of specific illicit tobacco seized under prescribed powers, providing immediate forfeiture and swift destruction. Fourthly, we are securing logistics supply chains. This bill establishes statutory licence conditions for custom brokers, depots and warehouses handling tobacco. We're expanding the remit of the National Customs Broker Licensing Advisory Committee to cover depots and warehouses, renaming it to the National Customs Licensing Advisory Committee.

Intercepting cargo at the port is only half the battle. If penalties are treated merely as operating expenses, cartels will simply factor them into their bottom line. This bill amends the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002. It hits production orders by increasing penalties for destroying or tampering with documents. It also hits pecuniary penalty orders and unexplained wealth. We're streamlining the definition of total wealth so traced assets originating from a single source are not counted redundantly, ensuring faster civil confiscation of unexplained criminal wealth.

The contrast with the opposition could not be more stark. What they're proposing—to slash tobacco excise by 80 per cent, when they have offered no economic modelling and no health analysis—we know would be a disaster. It would strip billions from public services, flood hospital wards with preventable diseases and drive smoking rates up. Their proposal would destroy 20 years of bipartisan health policy, and, as a nurse, I can't take it. When the coalition was in government, they increased tobacco excise by over 215 per cent without investing that revenue back into public health.

Vapes are not harmless, nicotine is not harmless and vapes are an on-ramp to addiction. This bill is about the kinds of communities that we choose to build. Do we accept a status quo where organised cartels operate brazen storefronts down the street from our schools, or do we stand up for lawful retailers, back our border officers and protect the health of our children? The Albanese Labor government chooses community health and the rule of law. This legislation modernises our border enforcement, closes regulatory gaps, accelerates the destruction of seized contraband and dismantles the financial empires of organised crime syndicates. I commend the bill to the House.

At the start, I move an amendment to the amendment moved by the member for Kooyong, as circulated in my name:

That all words after "the" (first occurring) be omitted with a view to substituting the following words:

"House, whilst not declining to give the bill a second reading, calls on the Government to immediately reduce the tobacco excise by 75 per cent to encourage consumers to move back to legal products, smash the black market and reduce the rampant organised crime which is now widespread in tobacco retailing".

I'm sure the member for Farrer will second it—I hope!—in a short period of time.

It's pretty simple economics. If you reduce the price of something, you will have more people buy it. If you increase the price of something, it becomes unaffordable for people. It's a very fundamental design of economics. Whether it was Marshall, Keynes or Friedman, they were all pretty keen on the idea. It works pretty well.

What we have with cigarettes is an issue. You have an addiction. Cigarettes are addictive. Nicotine is very addictive. You have very much a static market there. You have a demand, to be quite frank, that is pretty constant. The elasticity in that is to where they buy them from.

There are a couple of unfortunate things about cigarettes. One is they kill you. You die if you smoke cigarettes. Sometimes you'll die quickly; sometimes it'll take longer. But, if you keep smoking, smoking will kill you—unless something else kills you first.

If you're going to die, it'd probably be better to die with a regulated product than an unregulated product. To have more people smoke a regulated product, we have to reduce the price. It is a reality that we have legal cigarettes for about $55 a packet, or something like that, and illegal ones—we all know, because they're everywhere; they're ubiquitous—are about $15 a packet. So people are making an economic choice. They are buying the illegal ones and, by so doing, sponsoring the mafia.

Who is actually missing out? Well, it's the government. A couple of years ago, there was about $12 billion, I think—it might have been a bit more—in excise revenue. Last year, I think we got a bit better than $4 billion. Where's that money going? I can tell you where it's going. It's going to the same group that has been burning down shops and blowing people up and shooting up places. It's pretty violent where the cigarettes are coming from.

If we want to take control—well, we're never going to get rid of it completely, but if you want to have some semblance of it and get it back into orbit, you have to bring the price of the legal cigarettes back into an orbit where the illegal ones are. Then people will probably pay a little bit of a premium because they'll want to know more about the regular cigarettes that are killing them, because you have no idea what you're getting in a packet of unregulated cigarettes. If they're going to bring them in illegally, they're probably not too worried about your health or about quality control. This is something that we've got to deal with.

Here's another interesting thing. To be quite frank, you're ripping people off with a product that's killing them: cigarettes. You're ripping people off because, after you've said it's evil, the biggest commercial beneficiary of cigarettes is the government. The government says, 'Smoking's evil. You shouldn't do it. But, by the way, we're going to take most of the money from it.' Who smokes? Unfortunately, it's poor people overwhelmingly. The people who can least afford it are the ones who smoke. So the government is getting a benefit from the poorest people in society. That is wrong on a whole range of levels.

What we in One Nation are asking for is a reduction of 75 per cent in the excise. This, as stated in the actual amendment, will encourage consumers back to the legal products. We've seen in other places such as Canada that this works. We're getting some mixed news that's going around out there. People are saying, 'They've increased the policing and it's brought down the consumption.' The only way, ultimately, you can check that is by the analysis of sewerage and things like that, because you can pick up nicotine levels. Some of the other studies say that it's pretty constant at about one in 10 people smoking, and that's not surprising because it's addictive.

One of the issues we have with illegal cigarettes, of course, is that, when the people who bring in the illegal cigarettes are not riding Harley-Davidsons and going to chapters of their clubs, they're bringing in other things, such as methamphetamines, heroin and a whole list of drugs that are very, very bad for you. They're much worse than cigarettes. Cigarettes will kill you, but if you're having a cigarette while driving down the road, it shouldn't really affect your capacity to drive; however, if you're on methamphetamines or even marijuana, it's probably best that you don't drive.

There is vastly more of an issue with illegal cigarettes, which is that they are being used to develop a wider drug market. There's a massive profit to be made in illegal cigarettes. One of the issues is the monitoring, and I'm sure the member for Farrer, who is vastly more across this than me, will go further into it. Let's just say our capacity to monitor the ports is not as good as it should be, so you have many containers—the vast majority—that are not inspected. If you can get a fair few cigarettes in one container, or even in a part of, there's a big profit to be made.

What we are trying to do is bring economic sanity back into this issue of a product that has a similar product that is less than a third of its price and of the thinking that people are going to buy the legal one. If you want to get a real insight into how this whole process of dealing with illegal cigarettes is going, you should go to a shop that sells legal cigarettes. They will give you a very clear insight into what's happened to their client base. Their client base has basically walked out the door. In this parliament, where we talk in riddles, let's remove one riddle and ask: how often now, when you see someone smoking cigarettes, do you see that there are no real health warnings on the packaging because they don't come from Australia? They're illegal. In fact, I reckon it's sometimes hard to find someone smoking legal cigarettes, and that shows what a failure in policy this is.

One Nation came up with this policy, and, like everything, it took merely a period of less than 24 hours and—God bless them—the coalition followed our policy, and that was good. They are following our policies. At times they're following our lines. They're now calling the people on the other side 'socialists', as they are. Even though there are no labourers on the frontbench of the Labor Party, there are socialists, ex-student unionists, who have a big issue about small things. But within another 24 hours, the Premier of New South Wales also said what a great idea One Nation's policy is. Now, there's nothing remarkable about that because the policy is just common sense. It's just the most obvious thing to do.

There are also other parts. People who are addicted to nicotine can find other ways to get nicotine. There are patches, but there are also forms of chewing tobacco, forms of pouches—I don't even know what they call them, but they put them in their lip and walk around with them.

It's a plug.

What do they call them?

A plug.

A plug—there you go. Now you're seeing more of them and they're also illegal. We could get some common sense about this, maybe put this one through the PBO. That'd be a good one. Put this one through the PBO and ask this very simple question: if we reduce the price of legal cigarettes by reducing the excise, will we sell more legal cigarettes? It shouldn't take the PBO too long to get to an answer. Then ask this: if the government sells more legal cigarettes, will the government get more excise revenue? And that shouldn't take the PBO too long to work out either. I think they are two very quick questions. They will be able to work out that you're vastly better off if you reduce the price of a product if you are desirous of the idea of wanting to sell more of them.

Ultimately, how do we actually stop people smoking cigarettes? There's no argument that that would be great. Well, the first thing is you can't just order people to stop, and you can't just make it so that you build it on a financial rock, because all people do is go to the illegal product. You have to continue to do it with an education campaign, continue to do it with good role models, continue to do it with a process of basically just appealing to their common sense of trying to look after their own body and their own health. I used to smoke—very naughty boy. I had my first cigarette when I was in sixth class, so it didn't take me long to get off them—about 30 or 40 years. But it's a tough game. Through the whole process, I think we have done a good job.

In essence, now there's a lot more of a health-conscious vibe going through schools. It's helping the reduction of alcohol consumption as well. You find that there are a lot of people growing up now who just don't drink, and you can see that when talking to some of the some of the companies that produce wine. They say they're pulling out grapes, pulling out vines. I ask: why? They say it is because a lot of people just don't drink anymore. So there is success.

Where could we get the money to run the health programs, because you always have to find your offset? Where would we get the money to run the programs to encourage people not to smoke? Well, you could get it from the excise that you would attain from reducing the price of cigarettes. The mechanisms of starting smoking are not so much price; the mechanisms of continuing smoking and the product you buy are very much determined by price. People start smoking not because it's cheap but because they think it is a scene. It's a form of rebellion. It's almost an iconography that they want to display. It's a statement about their independence. It's a range of things, but it's never really price. But once you hooked, by gosh, it's price that is the big determinant of the product you are buying.

In closing, I would say that this is just so self-evident. It's just right there in front of us. I know that the government will decide to continue on this path of finding the poorest people in Australia, charging them more and then complaining about the growth of the mafia market. Let's try and stop it. This is self-evident. I leave it to the House.

Is the amendment seconded?

I'd like to second the motion and reserve my right to speak on the motion.

Australians should be proud of how far we have come in reducing smoking rates over the past two decades. We've seen a significant decrease in the number of people smoking, and that's absolutely a good thing. It's good for the health and wellbeing of Australians and it's good for our health system. But organised criminals are threatening our progress. These criminals are exploiting the illicit tobacco industry and making huge profits from it, putting public health and legitimate businesses at risk across the nation.

That's why this bill is so important. The Customs and Other Legislation Amendment (Illicit Tobacco Enforcement Modernisation and Other Measures) Bill 2026 strengthens the Commonwealth's enforcement powers and makes it harder for criminals to profit from illegal tobacco. For communities like mine across the Bellarine, Surf Coast and the broader Geelong region, this is about protecting young people and also backing local businesses and making sure organised crime cannot operate above the law.

The bill would create new offences relating to importing, possessing and conveying illicit tobacco. These offences will give authorities better ways to address unlawful activity across the supply chain. The bill also recognises that investigators need to be able to act on the evidence available to them because in so many instances there are practical indicators that can raise reasonable suspicion that tobacco is being sold unlawfully. These include products with non-compliant packaging, tobacco concealed to avoid detection, missing import documentation and tobacco being sold for less than the excise and the GST that would ordinarily apply. As part of this bill price alone will not establish every offence and the circumstances of each case will matter, but, where tobacco is being sold at a price that could not cover costs, authorities should be able to ask where it came from and whether the law has been broken. This is a pragmatic, practical approach to enforcement. It recognises the way illicit tobacco is sold and distributed, rather than leaving officers to rely on evidence that can be difficult to obtain in a complex investigation.

The legislation also strengthens consequences for serious offending and makes absolutely clear that companies can be held accountable where the relevant offences apply. A business structure should not provide protection for people who use it to facilitate illegal trade. That's a simple principle, but it's so important for local retailers. Business owners who follow the rules and run a legitimate business should not be undercut by a competitor selling illicit tobacco at a price that lawful businesses cannot match. Those operators are not competing on a level playing field. They are avoiding obligations that legitimate businesses meet every day, and they can use the resulting profits to expand their operations. That is unfair to local businesses and damaging to the broader community. Stronger enforcement will not solve every problem facing small retailers, but it is an important part of ensuring that the law applies equally.

The bill also addresses tobacco products for which customs duty can be refunded. Under the existing arrangements, tobacco intended for export or sale to eligible travellers can be subject to duty refund provisions. The legislation strengthens the controls that apply to these products, keeping them under customs control until they are exported or sold to eligible travellers. The aim is to prevent tobacco that is entering these arrangements from being diverted into the domestic illicit market. This is another example of closing a gap that can be exploited by people who are looking for ways around the law. Customs controls need to follow the product until it reaches its lawful destination.

There are also changes to the way illicit tobacco is seized and disposed of. Australian Border Force officers deal with large quantities of seized goods. The administrative processes involved can consume considerable time, particularly when procedural requirements delay the disposal of products that have already been taken out of circulation. The bill streamlines those arrangements and reduces unnecessary administrative burdens. Officers need to be able to carry out their work efficiently while maintaining appropriate safeguards and accountability.

The legislation also strengthens requirements for customs brokers, depots and warehouses. These businesses have important responsibilities in the movement and storage of goods entering Australia. Their operations must not be used to facilitate illicit tobacco imports. The new requirements are intended to make it harder for unlawful activity to pass through legitimate commercial infrastructure without being challenged. Businesses holding relevant licences will need to meet stronger obligations and take reasonable steps to prevent their operations from being used in connection with illicit tobacco. This is not about placing unreasonable burdens on businesses that do the right thing. It is about making sure that those operating in the customs supply chain understand their responsibilities and cannot ignore serious unlawful activity taking place through their facilities.

Strong enforcement also means following the money. Seizing tobacco and prosecuting an offender are important, but neither necessarily improves the financial incentive to commit the crime again. Organised criminal groups can treat a seizure or a fine as a cost of doing business if they are able to retain the proceeds. The Australian Federal Police has an important role in identifying and confiscating assets linked to criminal activity. It has confiscated more than $47 million in assets associated with illicit tobacco offending. That work demonstrates why the financial side of enforcement matters. This bill strengthens aspects of the proceeds of crime framework, including provisions dealing with pecuniary penalty orders, production orders and unexplained wealth. Pecuniary penalty orders allow courts to require offenders to pay an amount reflecting the benefits they have obtained from criminal conduct. The bill clarifies how those benefits are assessed and how restrained property can be used to satisfy a penalty order.

The legislation also makes changes to production orders which help investigators obtain information relevant to their inquiries. Better access to information can be particularly important when financial dealings and criminal networks extend across jurisdictions. Changes to the unexplained-wealth framework will help clarify how a person's wealth is assessed, including property the person owns or controls. The purpose of these reforms is to ensure that authorities have workable legal tools to identify criminal wealth and recover the proceeds of offending. Someone who has made money through an illicit tobacco operation should not be able to keep that wealth simply because it has been moved, concealed or held through complicated arrangements. Nor should a criminal penalty be treated as a bill that can be paid while the rest of the profit stays in the bank. For the people running these operations, removing the financial reward can be just as important as removing the products from sale.

Of course, Commonwealth legislation alone will not end the illicit tobacco trade. Products must be stopped at the border. But distribution networks also need to be disrupted and illegal retailers dealt with. That requires cooperation between the Commonwealth, states and territories. State and territory authorities have an important role in inspecting premises, enforcing retail laws and closing businesses engaged in illegal activity. More than 1,000 illicit tobacco stores have been closed by state and territory authorities. That is significant work, but it also shows how much enforcement is needed beyond the border. In Victoria, effective action against illegal tobacco retailers will remain important. The problem cannot be solved by making seizures at the port if the same products can still find their way into shops and onto the streets. Agencies need to share information, coordinate investigations and act on evidence wherever it leads.

All of this is shown by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, which reports that daily smoking among Australian adults had fallen to 5.8 per cent in 2025. This shows that our approach is working. It is a considerable improvement on the rates Australians experienced in previous decades. We should recognise that achievement while being realistic about the work still required. Tobacco continues to cause serious illness and premature death. Nicotine addiction remains a concern, particularly for young people, and the availability of illegal products makes the job of protecting public health harder. Australia's tobacco control measures have been built over many years. They have relied on public education, regulation, taxation and support for people who want to quit. Enforcement against the illicit market is another part of that effort.

Despite this, the opposition has pointed to the fall in tobacco excise revenue as evidence that the government's approach has failed. But fewer people smoking means less tobacco being sold legally, and that means less tobacco excise being collected. The purpose of tobacco policy is not to maximise the amount of tax collected from smokers. The purpose is to reduce smoking rates and the enormous health burden that comes with them. That's why I'm so concerned about the proposals to make tobacco significantly cheaper. We need to deal with the illicit market by cutting tobacco excise, but cutting tobacco excise doesn't deal with the criminal networks behind that market. That requires enforcement. It requires governments working together to close businesses that are selling illicit tobacco. We also need to keep the focus on young people. Australia has made enormous progress in reducing smoking rates, and we must ensure the next generation does not become addicted to nicotine. That means continuing the public health measures that have brought smoking rates down, tackling illicit products being sold to our communities and strengthening the mechanisms to catch those who are doing the wrong thing.

The most effective response is to disrupt the supply chain and ensure that those profiting from criminal activity face real consequences. Since 2024, the Albanese government has committed more than $365 million to tackling illicit tobacco and nicotine products. This bill adds to that work by addressing specific weaknesses in the customs and proceeds of crime frameworks. There will still be challenges. Criminal operators will continue to look for new ways to move products and hide their involvement. Enforcement agencies will need to keep adapting and governments will need to maintain cooperation if they are to make lasting progress. But the answer is not to accept the illicit trade as inevitable. It is to give authorities the power they need, apply those powers effectively and make sure the consequences reach the people responsible. The legislation before us is a practical part of that response. It strengthens offences. It improves customs controls over tobacco products, streamlines seizure and disposal processes, places clearer obligations on relevant licence holders and improves the ability to recover criminal proceeds.

For the Bellarine and Surf Coast and my broader region, I want to see local businesses able to operate fairly. I want young people protected from the harms of tobacco and nicotine. Criminal operators must be given no opportunity to make money at the community's expense. We have made real progress in reducing smoking in Australia and improving health outcomes across the nation. Protecting that progress requires us to deal with the illicit market as well as continue the great public health work we are doing. It has served us well, and I support this bill.

Debate adjourned.