The Senate will now consider the proposal, under standing order 75, from Senator Cash, which is shown at item 15 on today's Order of Business:

That, in the opinion of the Senate, the following is a matter of urgency:

The Albanese Government's failure to stop the explosion in illicit tobacco that has handed billions to organised crime, fuelled firebombings and violence across our communities, and the need to smash the gangs, destroy their business model and restore the rule of law.

Is consideration of the proposal from Senator Cash supported?

More than the number of senators required by the standing orders having risen in their places—

With the concurrence of the Senate, the clerks will set the clock in line with the informal arrangements made by the whips.

I move:

That, in the opinion of the Senate, the following is a matter of urgency:

The Albanese Government's failure to stop the explosion in illicit tobacco that has handed billions to organised crime, fuelled firebombings and violence across our communities, and the need to smash the gangs, destroy their business model and restore the rule of law.

It is a fact, sadly, that Australia has an organised crime crisis. What is worse, though, is that the Albanese government has allowed this organised crime crisis to flourish. What Labor did was they kept hiking up the tobacco taxes. What then happened was the legal market collapsed, the black market exploded, the gangs made billions and Australians, sadly, got the violence. That is the Albanese government's shameful record.

Today, a legal packet of cigarettes can cost around $50—even more. An illegal packet can cost between, say, $10 and $15. You don't need to have an economics degree to work out what happens next. Labor has handed organised crime a huge price advantage, and, sadly, the organised crime gangs have driven a truck through it—billions that they have made that fuel drugs, money laundering, extortion, violence, firebombings.

In Victoria alone, there have now been almost 200 tobacco related arsons and six homicides in this trade. Shops have been firebombed. Businesses have been threatened. Communities have been terrorised. This is not some harmless black market. This is organised crime in Australian suburbs, where mums and dads live, and, sadly, the reality is—and this can't be denied, because the statistics actually support this—it has exploded under Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's watch.

But, as we saw in question time today, when questions were posed to Senator Wong, representing the Prime Minister, it's always someone else's fault. Senator Wong's response was effectively, 'Well, if the states don't come to the party, there's not a lot that the Commonwealth can do.' There it is again. This is what this government does. The statistics are there in front of them. We have an organised crime crisis in Australia that has allowed the illegal tobacco trade to flourish, and what has Labor done? They sit back and they say that it's someone else's fault. They blame the states, blame somebody else, make an excuse—anything but take responsibility.

I have a message for the Prime Minister: Australians are not interested in your excuses. They actually want their shops to stop being firebombed. They want someone to put organised crime out of business. And they expect the Commonwealth government to lead.

Meanwhile, another reality that's happened under Anthony Albanese is that tobacco excise revenue has collapsed. It peaked at around $16 billion; it is now around $8 billion. Who would have thought—Labor taxes tobacco harder; the government collects billions less! The gangs, on the other hand—the organised crime gangs in Australia—make billions more, and Australians get the firebombings. Only Labor could tax something more, raise less money and make organised crime in Australia all the wealthier. That is not policy success. That is a catastrophic policy failure. And still Labor refuses to admit the obvious: its approach has failed.

We've made it very clear. The coalition is not going to sit by and watch this government destroy Australia. We will do what Labor has been too weak to do and too stubborn to do. We will smash the business model of organised crime. We will cut tobacco excise by 80 per cent, because you cannot smash a black market while guaranteeing the criminals a massive profit margin. Cut the price advantage, cut their customers, cut their profits and then, of course, you've got to hit the criminals with the full force of the law.

We will put forward $200 million in terms of a national law enforcement surge—more raids, more seizures, more arrests, shut the illegal shops, follow the money, seize the products and dismantle the organised crime networks behind this trade. Then, we will replace Labor's failed approach to vapes and nicotine with a properly regulated market.

The fact of the matter is this: Labor's policy has failed. The black market has exploded, the gangs cashed in, the taxpayer lost billions and Australian communities got the violence. That is the record of Anthony Albanese. Australians got the violence; Labor gave them excuses. The coalition will smash their business model.

As chair of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Law Enforcement, I'm acutely aware of the challenges associated with illicit tobacco importations and the effect they're having across the country. The illicit tobacco trade has become a significant concern in Australia, undermining decades of progress in tobacco control and threatening the safety and wellbeing of communities across the nation. As criminal networks expand their operations, the consequences are felt not only through lost government revenue but also through increased violence, intimidation and harm to honest retailers and workers.

Recognising the seriousness of these issues, the Albanese Labor government has reaffirmed its commitment to cracking down on illicit tobacco, positioning this initiative as a cornerstone of its broader efforts to safeguard public health and uphold the integrity of Australian tobacco control policies. Firebombings and other destructive acts are increasingly reported as criminal attempts to control the market and silence those who oppose their operations. Intimidation and threats are used to coerce honest retailers and workers, forcing them to comply or risk their livelihoods and personal safety.

The Albanese Labor government recognises the urgent need to address these harms, ensuring that communities are protected and that offenders are brought to justice. As a government, we are acting strongly against these acts, rebalancing the risk-to-reward calculations for criminal actors by raising offence penalties to match the severity of the harms being caused by the illicit tobacco trade and enhancing Australia's proceeds-of-crime regime to ensure it can more effectively target criminal profits generated by illicit tobacco.

The government acknowledges that illicit tobacco is not a minor issue; it is a complex problem that demands coordinated action from law enforcement, regulatory bodies and policymakers through increased funding for enforcement agencies, legislative reforms and enhanced cooperation with state and territory governments. The Albanese Labor government is working to dismantle the networks responsible for bringing illicit tobacco into Australia and distributing it across the country.

I want to put on record the Albanese Labor government's record in this space. Since 2023-24, the Albanese Labor government has provided $346 million in funding for the Australian Border Force to crack down on illicit tobacco and vaping products. The government also appointed the first-ever illicit tobacco and eSafety Commissioner, with $21.3 million allocated in the 2025-26 budget to help coordinate national effects to combat this illicit trade. Collaboration with state and territory law enforcement is vital in ensuring a unified approach to tackling the problem at every level. The government's focus on legislative reform aims to close loopholes that criminals exploit, making it harder for illicit tobacco to enter and circulate within Australia. Ongoing reviews by enforcement practices ensure that strategies remain effective and responsive to emerging threats. By taking decisive actions against criminal networks we are sending a clear message that we want to put an end to this.

We know that Border Force and the Australian Federal Police with the state police are doing what they need to do and are working every single day to stem the flow of illicit tobacco and vapes into Australia. They have enhanced detection, disruption and destruction of illicit tobacco and vapes at the borders and within the community. There is better connection and coordination of efforts across the Commonwealth and the states and territories, including the establishment of the national disruption group.

Since January 2024, 14 million vape products and accessories have been seized by Australian Border Force. In just the last six months of last year, more than a billion illicit cigarettes were also seized. We're seeing change in action with more tobacco and vapes seized at the borders, more stores shut down and more criminals convicted. We know there's still more to be done, and we've seen the work in action by this disruption group—led, as I said, by Border Force, bringing together the Commonwealth and the states and territories. We need a coordinated effort.

Vapes are not a safe alternative to smoking. Vapes are highly nicotine potent, and there is clear evidence linking vaping and cancer. People who vape are five times more likely to end up smoking. We are committed. We don't accept tobacco donation at elections. It just seems to be ironic that those in the Liberals and Nationals and One Nation who are taking their— (Time expired)

This week the Liberal Party promised an 80 per cent reduction in tobacco excise after One Nation promised 75 per cent. One Nation first called for a reduction in excise in June 2024, in a Senate debate where I said continuous tax increases would not stop people smoking and would instead fuel the black market, shifting revenue from the government to organised crime, endangering shopping centres and small businesses. And that's exactly what happened.

In estimates last December I asked Minister Watt to at least accept that high excise was driving law-abiding citizens into the hands of organised crime. He denied that was the case, a position that flies in the face of reality and truth. Cigarettes do not maim and murder innocent people. They do not firebomb buildings, nor do they destroy innocent businesses. Criminals do all of that, criminals the government are unable to control. This isn't an argument about smoking. It's an argument about crime.

For Minister Plibersek to say that our policy to cut the excise will lead to more children smoking shows just how out of touch this government is. Children are already smoking because illicit tobacco cigarettes are already cheap. Do you think a criminal tobacco shop will ask a child for ID? Of course not. They're criminals.

The quit smoking lobby are, of course, opposing the measure. These are the people the government funds to hold the line, despite smoking and vaping rates reaching 17.4 per cent and rising—data from Roy Morgan.

Recent wastewater testing from the University of Queensland shows smoking rates have increased 150 per cent over the last seven years. This is a combination of new smokers and increases from existing smokers. The only responsible, sensible course now is to reduce the excise, eliminate the criminals and get back to harm cessation. The latest budget has tobacco excise down from a peak—of revenue, that is—of $16 billion in 2019 to $3.5 billion this year, which is lower again over forward estimates. Even the Treasury thinks we're going to lose the fight against organised crime.

Years ago, Canada reduced their excise by 65 per cent to combat crime, and government revenue went up, not down. People did the right thing and moved back to the legal product, so will Australians. The World Health Organization first demanded these obscene taxes, and the quislings in government and the health bureaucrats jumped to their command. Meanwhile in Geneva, WHO bureaucrats, World Health Organization bureaucrats, can buy cigarettes with half the duty you have in Australia. Loose tobacco is a quarter of the same excise One Nation are proposing. UN bureaucrats in New York pay just $6.85 a pack in excise. That is less than Australians would pay after our 75 per cent excise cut. Vapes are available in both countries. Those UN hypocrites can access vapes as a smoking cessation, yet we cannot.

I call on the government to cut the tobacco excise and tell the UN World Health Organization to get stuffed. (Time expired)

This is an important debate about illicit tobacco. I thank Senator Cash for bringing this important issue before the Senate. What we know is that, across Australia, suburban shopping strips have been firebombed, businesses are being threatened and sadly people are being killed because criminal gangs have often been allowed to take control of the tobacco market. What began as a public health challenge has become a lucrative market for organised crime. The illicit tobacco trade is estimated to be generating between $4.1 billion and $6.9 billion for criminal organisations. Those profits do not remain behind the counter of illicit stores; they fund drugs, drug trafficking, drug dealers, scams, money laundering and violence throughout our community.

In Victoria alone, there have been almost 200 tobacco related arsons and six homicide crimes linked to the trade. Yet the Albanese government continues to protect the very business model that makes this criminal enterprise so profitable. A legal pack of 20 cigarettes now costs around $50, with approximately $30 of that price made up of government tax. One illicit pack can be sourced in Asia for less than $5 and then sold locally here in Australia for somewhere between $15 and $20. That enormous price difference makes Australia a serious target for organised crime. Every time a customer is pushed from a legitimate retailer, more money flows out of the legal country and into the hands of criminal gangs.

Labor's approach has not eliminated demand; it has simply gifted criminals with a highly lucrative market. The coalition's plan will attack the gangs where it hurts: their profits. We'll cut tobacco excise by 80 per cent, reducing the excise for a standard packet of 20 cigarettes from around $30 to just over $6. This will dramatically narrow the price gap between legal and illicit tobacco. It will bring revenue back to Australian businesses and strip billions of dollars from organised crime.

But excise reform is not enough. We will back it with a $200 million nationwide law enforcement surge. That means more raids, arrests and seizures; shutting down the illegal tobacco stores; intercepting shipments at the border; and following the money through the Australian Federal Police, the Australian Border Force, the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission and AUSTRAC. We will also legalise, regulate and tax vapes and nicotine pouches for adults.

Labor's prohibition model, like all of these models, failed. It failed dismally. It has not eliminated these products; it has simply placed their manufacture and sale in the hands of criminals. Australian adults should be purchasing regulated products through legal businesses with strong safeguards preventing their sale to children. This policy is not about encouraging smoking. We want fewer Australians smoking and vaping. That's why our plan includes a $60 million public health campaign. The government cannot pretend that its present approach is succeeding. I ask them: what is your plan? Tobacco consumption has increased substantially since the end of 2021 while the legal market has collapsed and criminals have prospered.

The consequences for the budget are equally stark. Tobacco excise revenue has fallen from around $16 billion in 2019-20 to around $8 billion. The coalition analysis indicates that, if Labor's repeated revenue writedowns continue, tobacco excise receipts would fall to zero by 2029-30. The independent Parliamentary Budget Office estimates that our package will improve the budget by around $8 billion over four years and more than $20 billion over a decade, principally by bringing tobacco sales back into the legal economy. We will also direct the ACCC to monitor tobacco prices and report publicly, helping to ensure that the excise reduction is passed through to consumers.

You cannot defeat organised crime while preserving its competitive advantage. Australians deserve more than a government that watches excise revenue collapse while illegal tobacco shops multiply and criminal violence escalates. They deserve a government prepared to confront the cause of the crisis, not merely manage its consequences. The coalition has a comprehensive plan to restore Australian control of this market, protect legitimate businesses, safeguard our communities and smash the gangs. (Time expired)

It should come as no surprise to anyone that I rise to oppose Senator Cash's motion. As the deputy chair of the Legal and Constitutional Affairs References Committee, I heard evidence on this exact issue, and there seems to be an awful lot of convenient leaving out of facts. The illicit tobacco market did not begin in 2022 when we took government, but it seems like that's the framing we've got in here today.

If we want to get into the business of finger pointing, the illicit tobacco market has been growing for years, and it grew because enforcement was allowed to fall behind on the coalition's watch. If those opposite are looking for somebody to blame, all they need to do is look in the mirror. What this government inherited was an absolute mess, and what we have done over on this side is act.

The Albanese Labor government has committed more than $365 million since 2024 to crack down on illegal, illicit tobacco before it arrives, when it arrives and after it arrives in the country. We are seeing the impact of that work. More tobacco and vapes are being seized at the border, more stores are being shut down and more criminals are being convicted.

We know that states and territories have a role to play too. They need long-term closure orders and landlord penalties. When states have these powers, that can have a real impact in this space. What we are seeing is that states and territories with strong rules and effective powers to shut down illegal sellers are having success. For example, in Queensland and in South Australia, more than a thousand shops have been shut down thanks to their robust enforcement regime. The government is also working with states and territories to tackle the problem. That is why Minister Burke has taken a range of actions, including creating the Illicit Tobacco National Disruption Group to combat the illegal tobacco trade. The NDG, led by the Australian Border Force, uses intelligence and enforcement powers from various federal, state and territory agencies to target the entire supply chain, from importers and distributors to street-level sellers.

We also continue to strengthen legislation to combat the illicit tobacco trade. Senator O'Sullivan's in here asking what we've done. Last month—he might have been asleep—the government passed the Combating Illicit Tobacco Bill, which increased penalties for importation, possession, buying, selling, supply, production or manufacture of illicit tobacco and strengthened powers for law enforcement and intelligence agencies to investigate illicit tobacco related offences. That sounds awfully a lot like action to me, and that is exactly what we've been doing. We will continue to introduce legislation that cracks down on the illicit tobacco trade, including increasing monetary and imprisonment penalties, nationally consistent protective order powers for restraining order applications, and expanded law enforcement powers to target proceeds of crime, unexplained wealth and tainted property.

But those on the opposite side must also remember that this issue is about more than just illicit trade; it is also about public health, community safety and protecting Australians, particularly young Australians, from nicotine addiction. This government will not surrender our health policy to organised crime and we will not surrender it to the tobacco industry either. The coalition and One Nation have tried to suggest that one way to solve this problem is to reduce the tobacco excise. There was not a single piece of evidence, no clear evidence, that suggests that reducing excise actually leads to reduced crime in illicit tobacco—zero. With that policy, any shred of credibility the Liberals and the Nationals claim to have has gone up in smoke. Excise used to be a bipartisan policy. Let's not forget that the coalition raised the tobacco excise by over 215 per cent while in government.

The best way to crack down on the illicit tobacco trade is through compliance and enforcement, working closely with the states and territories. That is exactly what we are doing. (Time expired)

Now, if we are serious about tackling the illegal tobacco sector in this country we need solutions based on evidence, not political posturing. The Australian Greens believe that the illicit tobacco market must be tackled decisively. We support stronger enforcement, better data sharing, tighter supply chain controls, tougher penalties, and, importantly, a national track-and-trace system to stop illegal tobacco from entering the market in the first place. But we strongly reject the idea that the answer is as simple as making legal tobacco cheaper.

Some members in this place have just participated in a Senate inquiry into illegal tobacco. As a member of that committee, I heard evidence first-hand, and the evidence presented to that inquiry simply does not show that lowering the cost of tobacco taxes would reduce the illicit market. In fact, experts warned us clearly that tobacco excise reductions would likely see an increase in the illicit market and would, in fact, see big tobacco companies make millions more in profit from the death of Australians.

Let's be absolutely clear what is actually going on here. This is an argument being run primarily by a party who, according to the latest donations data, took no less than $137,000 from Philip Morris and a further $88,000 from American British Tobacco, and who are now in here advocating for a reduction in the tax paid by those same corporate merchants of death. The illicit tobacco issue in Australia must be tackled. Doing the bidding of corporations that profit from the death of Australians cannot— (Time expired)

There you have it—the Greens in all their glory. They'd rather see money and profits going to organised crime than corporate businesses. This is where we go with this. We hear all the stories. We heard 'there have been four years' and, 'We didn't create this problem. We didn't have this problem from the other side.' But imagine if you had a leaking tap and your tap's dripping when you come into the house. You call your plumber. Four years later, it's not dripping anymore; it's rushing out. But you say, 'No, we spent two $365 million on it, we appointed a commissioner, we had an inquiry, we looked at it and we did all that. It's not our fault your tap's now rushing.' That is what we get from this side. It was dripping. There was illegal tobacco coming into Australia four years ago but now it's rushing in. Why? Because this government has become the facilitator, the marketing arm, of serious organised crime in the tobacco industry. There have been more than 200 fire bombings in Melbourne. There have been 51 organised crime shootings in New South Wales. This is because there has never been more money on the table with less penalties there. They go: 'We've got a residential. You sell it on your property. We're going to shut it down. We're going to put a thing.' I'll tell you what happens. They put a sticker on the shutters of your door. You scan the sticker and someone will deliver the tobacco to you now. It's even better because that's what's going on.

This is the reality of the world. It's not what we like to think. They say: 'But tobacco use is going down. Cigarette use is going down.' It's because they're taking retail sales data. I tell you what, serious organised crime doesn't take part in too many business surveys. They don't leave a 'rate me' on any of these things and say, 'How was your illegal transaction today?' Double Happiness cigarettes don't exist anywhere but the illegal market, and I can buy merch for it. I can be out there and do this.

The reality is: billions and billions of dollars fuel organised crime because no-one stands up and says 'enough'. We saw it on vapes. We see it on tobacco. Who knows what goes into these properties? If it is a corporation that sells these products in Australia, I can sue them. I can tax them. I can hold them to standards. We saw the vapes coming in with arsenic and rumours of Chinese cigarettes that had all sorts of things in them—arsenic again but also radioactive elements. Who do you sue when the organised crime family sells you this stuff? Who do we go after to make them liable? No-one. This is what we're stuck with here: 'Trust me. It was all our problem four years ago.' Well, it is not. It is on our doorsteps.

A staff member of mine couldn't get a building they own insured four doors up from a tobacconist. Imagine that. You're not a tobacconist. You're not next door to a tobacconist. You are four doors up, and you can't get a building you own insured because of the threat to it. This is the reality. When you're looking at tobacco use and when you're looking at smoking use, look at the things on sewerage outlets. Look at the indicators on the wastewater. It is up, and it is up because cigarettes are cheaper. It is up because all of this absolution—'no, we can't do it'—has failed. They are coming into the country. There are slaps on the wrist for importing this stuff. What we're trying to do is have a way where we take that profit motive out so the risk actually exceeds the rewards. At the moment, the rewards are so great.

We look at it in the vaping industry because this will have touched this. Before, I could go and buy a vape from any place even though I've never vaped in my life. If I went into a place dressed like this, like a bit of a square—I wouldn't sell to me; I look like a narc if ever there was one—I could still buy one for 30 bucks. I go to the same place today, and I can still do it. I was going to bring in a prop, but I know you wouldn't appreciate that. Eighty bucks—I can still buy it. It just costs more. That is the reality of prohibition. We are driving more money to crime. We are driving more money to other bad ventures and to firebombing. We saw the guy burnt to a crisp in Melbourne the other day. It is wrong.

What we want to do is find a way to stop that. With the price of vapes now at about 80 bucks, the kids that we were worried about before are going and smoking now because it's cheaper. They can get their Double Happiness hit, get their tobacco hit, for $15 or $20. How in the perverse world do we think the policy that is driving billions to organised crime and driving young people to cigarettes and pouches instead of vapes is right? How do we think that policy is working? When we've heard the numbers that have gone down, we've halved the income to the government from tobacco. One thing this government does get is how to take money. This needs to stop. We need to do this, and this policy should go.

The question is that the urgency motion, as moved by Senator Cash, be agreed to.