Tuesday, 1 April 2025

Illicit tobacco

Bev McARTHUR (Western Victoria) (03:52): (1556) My adjournment debate for the Minister for Local Government concerns the government response to the Public Accounts and Estimates Committee inquiry into vaping and tobacco controls. As a committee member I heard shocking stories about cigarette smuggling in Victoria’s tobacco wars, and I believe the most self-evident recommendation is to remove local government from this battlefield. This is not a matter of minor regulatory breaches or misplaced signage. Illicit tobacco is big business for organised crime, and they are willing to fight very dirty to keep it. Over a hundred firebombings, shootings and violent attacks have been linked to the black market tobacco trade in Melbourne. This is an escalating gang war where even heavily armed police are struggling to keep up. Yet despite this the government has refused to accept recommendation 12, which explicitly states that local government enforcement should be limited to smoke-free areas and basic information gathering.

Instead, the government response insists councils have an ‘important compliance and enforcement role’ – important, more like impossible. What exactly is the plan here? Are we expecting local government officers to bin the dog registration paperwork and kick down the doors of hardened criminals? Will they be enforcing the law against crime syndicates who treat arson as a business negotiation tactic? Imagine the scene: a council worker armed with nothing more than a clipboard and an encyclopedic knowledge of municipal regulations arguing the toss with gangsters brandishing Molotov cocktails. It would be laughable it if were not so dangerous. The committee recommended a well-resourced standalone regulatory agency within the Department of Justice and Community Safety working in partnership with Victoria Police and federal agencies. Ministers have accepted this in part but for some reason are still reviewing local government’s role and branding it ‘important’. What about accountability? With responsibilities scattered across various local entities, who is responsible when things go awry? Ministers cannot sidestep their duties by offloading them onto ill-equipped local councils. I have frequently criticised local government for going beyond their remit, but in this case it is hardly their fault. I do not think councils are actively asking to intervene in gang warfare. Minister, the action I seek is simple: consult with your ministerial colleagues responsible for formulating the government’s response and take local government out of the tobacco war front line.