Health Minister says black market now biggest threat to public health

ABC NEWS (Australia)

The health minister has conceded illicit tobacco is now the biggest threat to public health. Illicit packets of cigarettes are sold for as little as two dollars a huge price difference compared to legal sales. The government has continually raised tobacco prices as way of deterring smoking.

Transcript

00:00I think from a public health perspective it is now the biggest threat to our world leading

00:07tobacco control programs. We've been undertaking this work as a country for 50 years and in

00:12so many ways we've led the world and that's why we have some of the lowest rates of smoking

00:17in the developed world right now. Whether it was taking on advertising, taking on sports

00:22sponsorship, leading the world with our plain packaging reforms that we initiated when we

00:27were last in government. You know this is all very hard work. The sorts of products you're

00:32seeing in front of me flooding our market, flooding other developed markets all around

00:37the world. Right now I think the biggest threat we have to go that last mile and get from where

00:43we are now a bit under 10% of adults daily smoking down to zero which is where we want to be.

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