Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke has announced the establishment of a National Disruption Group to combat the growing scourge of illicit tobacco and the associated organised criminal activity.
Burke acknowledged there had been an uptick in illicit tobacco, which has soared after years of tax increases pushed legal cigarettes beyond the means of many smokers who have sought out cheaper alternatives.
The taxation rate on cigarettes has increased by about 300 per cent since 2010, under both Labor and Coalition governments. A packet of 25 legal cigarettes now costs about $50, $34 of which goes to government coffers.
Organised crime has exploited the dramatic price hike. Illegal cigarettes, which are not taxed, can be bought for as little as $12 a packet, with the proceeds going to fund organised criminal groups.
This in turn has sparked a series of escalating violent exchanges, including firebombings, between groups seeking to control the illicit trade.
The new disruption group will bring together state and territory police, along with the Australian Federal Police, the financial crime watchdog, Home Affairs, the Department of Health and the illicit tobacco and vape commissioner.
“There is a convergence of threats,” Burke told the ABC’s Insiders program. “So, the same criminal groups that are involved in organised tobacco, you’ll have some of them involved in forms of arson, some of them involved in the drug trade, they’ll be involved in child exploitation, all of these things start to interlink,” he says.
“So, everything we can do to attack those networks helps with the full range of issues.”