{"id":809588,"date":"2026-07-19T05:23:30","date_gmt":"2026-07-19T05:23:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/809588\/"},"modified":"2026-07-19T05:23:30","modified_gmt":"2026-07-19T05:23:30","slug":"not-true-heated-clash-erupts-between-labor-mp-julian-hill-and-sky-news-host-caleb-bond-over-tobacco-consumption-data","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/809588\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Not true’: Heated clash erupts between Labor MP Julian Hill and Sky News host Caleb Bond over tobacco consumption data"},"content":{"rendered":"

A heated clash has erupted between Labor MP Julian Hill and Sky News host Caleb Bond over tobacco consumption figures, after the minister dismissed recent ABS statistics as “not true”.<\/p>\n

Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics released in June<\/a> indicated that the proportion of total tobacco consumption attributed to illicit sources increased from 12 per cent in 2017 to 80 per cent in 2025.<\/p>\n

The increase, according to the ABS, was driven largely by the rapid growth in illicit cigarettes, e-cigarettes and other nicotine products.<\/p>\n

The rising statistics have prompted increasing calls for a federal review of tobacco excise taxes due to a growing black market.<\/p>\n

However, data released on Friday from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare\u2019s long-running study into smoking, vaping and drug use declared that past-year use of any nicotine product fell to 15.2 per cent in 2025, “the lowest level recorded”.<\/p>\n

The Assistant Minister for Citizenship, Customs and Multicultural Affairs was pressed by Sky News host Caleb Bond on Friday over whether the tobacco excise had contributed to the growth of the black market.<\/p>\n

“Why do you think that the sales of illicit tobacco have gone from 12 per cent of the market in 2017 to 80 per cent in 2025?” he asked.<\/p>\n

Mr Hill rejected the claim, saying: “They haven\u2019t, that\u2019s simply not true.”<\/p>\n

Bond challenged the minister, arguing the figures came directly from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.<\/p>\n

“I\u2019m going to read this to you. This is direct from the ABS,” he said.<\/p>\n

“It says consumption from illicit sources as a share of total tobacco consumed rose from 12 per cent in 2017 to 80 per cent in 2025. That\u2019s the ABS – you\u2019re saying the ABS is wrong.”<\/p>\n

Mr Hill then argued that the figures were “mixing up nicotine and tobacco”.<\/p>\n

Bond pushed back, saying the statistic came from the ABS and specifically referred to tobacco consumption.<\/p>\n

“But that\u2019s the ABS\u2019s number – it says tobacco, total tobacco consumed,” he said.<\/p>\n

“The Illicit Tobacco and E-cigarette (ITEC) Commissioner’s report says about 50 to 60 per cent of tobacco consumed is illegal,” Mr Hill continued.<\/p>\n

“The data released today, they’re looking at experimental wastewater. I don’t know, we can go around in circles, but I’m just telling you that’s the answer.”<\/p>\n

Tasmanian Premier Jeremy Rockliff is among those to have called on the federal government to lower the tobacco excise<\/a>, saying it would reduce illegal black-market trade and related crime.<\/p>\n

NSW Premier Chris Minns also recently called for the excise to be cut, arguing it was a “common sense” move.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A heated clash has erupted between Labor MP Julian Hill and Sky News host Caleb Bond over tobacco…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":809589,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[384860,384877,55611,384901,252782,384884,384871,4891,384900,384889,384890,384883,384894,93915,384868,3131,80245,379046,384891,384853,64,63,169,11792,15453,99,126541,32092,26295,384851,36112,9761,35794,384873,2458,384875,155729,384867,39598,528,137,384858,909,384854,18072,384872,49919,384864,213847,4270,143736,19433,215756,384861,384885,316652,384880,384899,384897,36983,384859,384886,20246,26296,384881,384876,8207,47714,384895,8623,378277,11499,378878,384888,384862,384857,384866,383252,384863,384882,378671,378293,378301,120559,384850,380181,384869,381774,384874,377435,384878,384896,384756,384856,384898,384879,384893,10702,384849,384870,384852,384855,24080,384892,384887,384865,29081],"class_list":["post-809588","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-s-long-running-study","tag-s-number","tag-55611","tag-15-2","tag-252782","tag-2017-and-2025","tag-2017-to-80","tag-4891","tag-384900","tag-a-common-sense-move","tag-a-federal-review","tag-a-growing-black-market","tag-a-heated-clash","tag-a-share","tag-about-50-to-60","tag-abs","tag-abs-data","tag-almost-40","tag-any-nicotine-product","tag-assertions","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-bureau-of-statistics","tag-australian-institute-of-health-and-welfare","tag-bond","tag-business","tag-caleb-bond","tag-cent","tag-chris-minns","tag-circles","tag-citizenship","tag-commissioner","tag-consumption","tag-customs-and-multicultural-affairs","tag-data","tag-e-cigarette","tag-e-cigarettes","tag-experimental-wastewater","tag-friday","tag-getty-images","tag-health","tag-heated-clash-erupts","tag-hill","tag-illegal-black-market-trade","tag-illicit-cigarettes","tag-illicit-sources","tag-illicit-tobacco","tag-increasing-calls","tag-itec","tag-jeremy-rockliff","tag-julian-hill","tag-june","tag-labor-mp","tag-labor-mp-julian-hill","tag-labor-mp-julian-hill-and-sky-news-host-caleb-bond","tag-mr-hill","tag-nicotine-and-tobacco","tag-nicotine-consumption","tag-nicotine-consumption-figures","tag-nsw-premier-chris-minns","tag-other-nicotine-products","tag-past-year-use","tag-picture","tag-premier","tag-recent-abs-statistics","tag-related-crime","tag-report","tag-sky-news","tag-sky-news-host-caleb-bond","tag-smoking","tag-smoking-rates","tag-statistics","tag-tasmanian-premier-jeremy-rockliff","tag-tense-interview","tag-the-abs","tag-the-answer","tag-the-assistant-minister","tag-the-australian-bureau","tag-the-australian-institute","tag-the-black-market","tag-the-claim","tag-the-data","tag-the-excise","tag-the-federal-government","tag-the-figures","tag-the-growth","tag-the-illicit-tobacco","tag-the-increase","tag-the-lowest-level","tag-the-market","tag-the-minister","tag-the-proportion","tag-the-rapid-growth","tag-the-rising-statistics","tag-the-sales","tag-the-statistic","tag-the-tobacco-excise","tag-tobacco","tag-tobacco-consumption","tag-tobacco-consumption-data","tag-tobacco-consumption-figures","tag-tobacco-excise-taxes","tag-today","tag-total-tobacco","tag-total-tobacco-consumption","tag-vaping-and-drug-use","tag-welfare"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/809588","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=809588"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/809588\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/809589"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=809588"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=809588"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=809588"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}