The warning, addressed to federal politicians, said policies \u201cto make cigarettes cheaper and open the door to widespread commercial vape sales\u201d will \u201ckill more Australians\u201d. <\/p>\n
\u201cWeak regulation and poor enforcement \u2026 has allowed illicit sellers to take root<\/a> street by street and suburb by suburb for too long.<\/p>\n \u201cCriminal groups saw a low-risk, high-profit market and moved in. <\/p>\n \u201cMaking cigarettes cheaper and vapes available everywhere will not change that.<\/p>\n \u201c[It] will only make smoking and vaping rates go up, leading to more deaths, more years of disease and increased healthcare costs.\u201d<\/p>\n Letter signatory Australian Council on Smoking and Health chief executive Laura Hunter said Canada tried drastic tobacco tax cuts in the 1990s and it failed, contributing to an estimated $30,000 extra deaths. <\/p>\n \u201cWe are absolutely committed to ending the serious issue of the illicit tobacco and nicotine trade,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n \u201cYou cannot price-match criminals who can manufacture a packet of illicit cigarettes for less than a dollar.\u201d<\/p>\n The Albanese government remains committed to the excise,<\/a> but the Coalition and One Nation have both vowed to slash the tax significantly,<\/a> by 80 and 75 per cent respectively. <\/p>\n The new letter, calling for stronger border controls and regulations, a reduction in the number of tobacco stores and free nicotine replacement therapy, is set to reignite fierce political debate on the issue. <\/p>\n Australia\u2019s high tobacco excise has come under heavy scrutiny in recent years as a growing number of smokers switched to organised crime\u2019s highly profitable, and violent, illicit market. <\/p>\n Legal cigarettes cost up to more than five times the price of illicit cigarettes, prompting calls to slash the tax in a bid to reduce the black market and the associated tobacco wars. <\/p>\n The Australian Crime Intelligence Commission told a senate committee earlier this year that serious organised crime groups use profits from the trade to offset losses from \u201cother traditional criminal activities\u201d, and the violence from group\u2019s turf warns has spilt over into the community and taken at least three lives. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Proposals to lower the tobacco tax risk allowing \u201corganised crime and big tobacco\u201d to \u201crewrite Australia\u2019s health policy\u201d,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":918714,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[486818,486801,486827,377380,486823,486794,486814,486792,486832,384900,486797,379283,393369,486798,486815,409889,402983,486831,486791,414604,486813,64,27621,63,486787,99,14170,2065,3337,32092,8625,355689,392854,71300,8112,200434,486824,486810,376920,486839,486783,486793,486805,14550,486819,486803,356963,376464,486799,18072,486828,326353,486837,486809,486802,486833,486816,486784,486829,80334,454376,276925,378325,486786,486835,486811,486822,486812,58668,464748,60504,32031,486795,1861,44077,486826,88006,384826,380174,486807,486781,486820,345873,486817,486789,486836,486782,75342,220849,378344,486830,486796,378381,384882,486804,161703,380572,381977,378193,393504,378301,23023,486825,486788,378343,486785,393515,486838,486834,381750,384893,486806,109662,451389,486800,25230,110777,169317,486821,21334,8934,441693,486790,486808],"class_list":["post-918713","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-s-health-policy","tag-s-high-tobacco-excise","tag-s-leaders","tag-s-plan","tag-s-tobacco-excise","tag-s-turf-warns","tag-s-weak-regulation-and-enforcement","tag-000-extra-deaths","tag-000-extra-people","tag-384900","tag-80-and-75","tag-a-bid","tag-a-growing-number","tag-a-low-risk","tag-a-packet","tag-a-reduction","tag-a-scathing-letter","tag-a-senate-committee","tag-an-estimated-30","tag-anything-else","tag-at-least-three-lives","tag-au","tag-aussies","tag-australia","tag-big-tobacco","tag-business","tag-calls","tag-canada","tag-cancer-council","tag-cent","tag-cigarettes","tag-criminal-groups","tag-criminals","tag-debate","tag-disease","tag-dozens","tag-drastic-tobacco-move","tag-drastic-tobacco-tax-cuts","tag-earlier-this-year","tag-federal-politicians","tag-fierce-political-debate","tag-free-nicotine-replacement-therapy","tag-grim-warning","tag-group","tag-health-bodies","tag-health-groups","tag-heart-foundation","tag-heavy-scrutiny","tag-high-profit-market","tag-illicit-cigarettes","tag-illicit-cigarettes-the-warning","tag-illicit-market","tag-illicit-sellers","tag-increased-healthcare-costs","tag-legal-cigarettes","tag-legal-tobacco","tag-legalise-vapes","tag-less-than-a-dollar","tag-letter-signatory-australian-council","tag-losses","tag-medical-bodies","tag-memo","tag-more-australians","tag-more-deaths","tag-more-than-30-bodies","tag-more-than-five-times-the-price","tag-more-years","tag-ms-credlin","tag-nation","tag-news24-host-peta-credlin","tag-one-nation","tag-organised-crime","tag-other-traditional-criminal-activities","tag-people","tag-policies","tag-poor-enforcement","tag-profits","tag-proposals","tag-recent-years","tag-rewrite-australia","tag-root-street","tag-serious-organised-crime-groups","tag-smokers","tag-smoking-and-health-chief-executive-laura-hunter","tag-smoking-and-vaping-rates","tag-street-and-suburb","tag-stronger-border-controls-and-regulations","tag-suburb","tag-the-1990s","tag-the-albanese-government","tag-the-associated-tobacco-wars","tag-the-australian-crime-intelligence-commission","tag-the-australian-medical-association","tag-the-black-market","tag-the-canadian-model","tag-the-coalition","tag-the-community","tag-the-deaths","tag-the-door","tag-the-election","tag-the-excise","tag-the-government","tag-the-illicit-market","tag-the-illicit-tobacco-and-nicotine-trade","tag-the-issue","tag-the-new-letter","tag-the-number","tag-the-policy-announcement","tag-the-serious-issue","tag-the-tax","tag-the-tobacco-excise","tag-the-tobacco-tax-risk","tag-the-trade","tag-the-violence","tag-this-revenue","tag-thousands","tag-tobacco-excise","tag-tobacco-stores","tag-top-medical-groups","tag-vapes","tag-violent","tag-weak-regulation","tag-widespread-commercial-vape-sales","tag-your-books"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/918713","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=918713"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/918713\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/918714"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=918713"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=918713"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=918713"}],"curies":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<\/p>\n