{"id":541407,"date":"2026-03-15T06:01:14","date_gmt":"2026-03-15T06:01:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/541407\/"},"modified":"2026-03-15T06:01:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-15T06:01:14","slug":"new-victorian-laws-could-see-businesses-shut-down-if-theyre-caught-selling-illicit-tobacco","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/541407\/","title":{"rendered":"New Victorian laws could see businesses shut down if they&#8217;re caught selling illicit tobacco"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">Businesses caught selling illicit tobacco could be forced to close under new laws designed to crack down on organised crime linked to the trade in Victoria.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">The Victorian government said Tobacco Licensing Victoria (TLV) would be given powers to force businesses to shut down if they were caught selling illegal tobacco.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">Landlords would also be given the power to kick out businesses selling illicit tobacco and could face new penalties if they knowingly allowed the trade in their premises.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">The government said inspectors would be given the power to destroy seized illegal tobacco before trial, which they argue would keep illegal tobacco off the streets and make prosecutions faster.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">Minister for Casino, Gaming and Liquor Regulation, Enver Erdogan, said the new laws would be introduced this year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">&#8220;Illegal tobacco is not a victimless crime. We see the impact it&#8217;s having on organised crime networks, undermining legitimate businesses that follow the rules,&#8221; Mr Erdogan said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">&#8220;The stores that are found to be selling this illegal produce will be able to be shut down as efficiently as possible.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We&#8217;ve brought in powers that will mean the regulator and Victoria Police can close down stores immediately.&#8221;<img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Tobacco products in packets gathered together\" class=\"Image_image__5tFYM ContentImage_image__DQ_cq\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/3ad8d6e8e1c183cee7f7924c4e4dff0c.jpeg\" loading=\"lazy\" data-component=\"Image\" data-lazy=\"true\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"Typography_base__sj2RP FigureCaption_text__zDxQ5 Typography_sizeMobile12__w_FPC Typography_lineHeightMobile20___U7Vr Typography_regular__WeIG6 Typography_colourInherit__dfnUx\" data-component=\"Typography\">The government said $5 million worth of illegal tobacco had been seized by TLV. (ABC News: Ruby Ritchie)<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">Mr Erdogan said stores could be closed for a short amount of time or indefinitely.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">&#8220;The message should be very clear, if you&#8217;re involved in this illicit trade there will be tough new penalties.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">The government has released statistics from the first month of operation of TLV, which started enforcing licensing requirements on February 1.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">It said TLV had seized almost $5 million worth of illegal tobacco including 3.19 million cigarettes, 2,243 cigars, 40 kilograms of loose-leaf tobacco and 32 kilograms of shisha tobacco.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">Individuals caught with illegal tobacco face fines of up to $370,000 or 15 years&#8217; jail and businesses face penalties of more than $1.8 million.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">Mr Erdogan said 49 stores had so far been found to be in breach of licensing requirements by TLV.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Businesses caught selling illicit tobacco could be forced to close under new laws designed to crack down on&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":223906,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,48,3786,36367,44381,25494,44,10702],"class_list":["post-541407","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-crime","tag-government","tag-illegal","tag-illicit","tag-laws","tag-news","tag-tobacco"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/541407","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=541407"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/541407\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/223906"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=541407"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=541407"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=541407"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}