Health Minister says black market now biggest threat to public health

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Health Minister Mark Butler says the government is losing some leverage in its fight to drive down smoking because of the black market. Illicit packets of cigarettes are sold for as little as two dollars a huge price difference compared to legal sales.

Transcript

00:00There is no doubt that the illicit tobacco market is growing in Australia and it needs

00:06urgent attention.

00:07Let's not forget that two out of three people who smoke, if they don't quit, will die as

00:12a result of their addiction.

00:13This is not some sort of trivial matter.

00:15We absolutely need to address it.

00:18The government is talking about the need for better enforcement.

00:21The health minister didn't really flesh out today exactly how they're going to go about

00:25that.

00:26The laws governing enforcement seem to differ quite a lot from state to state.

00:29Is there some confusion here over whose problem this is to fix?

00:33Look I think rather than confusion there's finger pointing.

00:36So you've got states blaming the federal government, federal government blaming the states, police

00:40blaming health, health blaming police, when what we actually need is a whole of government

00:44approach.

00:45We know that enforcement cannot just rest on the shoulders of one government department.

00:50So if you look at South Australia for example, they're really leading the way of how you

00:54can all work together.

00:55And really some practical simple things like if a retailer gets caught selling illicit

00:59tobacco or illicit vapes, they can be shut down on the spot for three months.

01:04We also need instant fines that are more than just a slap on the wrist.

01:09And is that sort of got to do with how licensing laws need to be changed as well or is that a

01:13separate issue?

01:14No.

01:15No.

01:16So tobacco licensing is kind of the key to all of this.

01:17Victoria and New South Wales, obviously our most populous states, have only just introduced

01:22licensing of tobacco retailers.

01:24So we actually have no idea how many retailers we have in New South Wales or in Victoria.

01:29It's literally tens of thousands selling a product that is highly taxed, very dangerous

01:35and addictive.

01:36It shouldn't just be that anyone can sell this thing.

01:38Becky, I want to ask you about the price of cigarettes because I know this is one of the

01:41big debates.

01:42Some people arguing that taxes are so high now that people are naturally looking elsewhere,

01:48legal cigarettes costing up to four times as much, even more.

01:51I know that you've said that tobacco taxes are at the centre of Australia's success story,

01:57but is there a point at which the cost becomes so high that it is allowing the black market

02:00to flourish?

02:01Sure.

02:02I think it's really simplistic to say, cut the tax.

02:04It sure sounds nice.

02:05It's nice and catchy, right?

02:06Cut the tax.

02:07Cut the tax.

02:08But cigarettes that are illicitly sold are so cheap.

02:12You would literally have to get rid of all of the tobacco tax to try and, quote unquote,

02:16compete with that market.

02:17And what would happen then?

02:18You would have an absolute frenzy of young people who can now afford cigarettes and you would

02:23undermine the public health success that we've had.

02:26We need enforcement and we need to hold these retailers who are blatantly breaking the law

02:31accountable.

02:32And we have seen this before, haven't we?

02:34I know in Canada they did try lowering the taxes and it actually increased the smoking

02:38rate, right?

02:39Yes.

02:40I'm embarrassed to admit that I am Canadian as well and I was actually in high school

02:44at that time in the 1990s when they lowered tobacco taxes and absolutely rates of smoking

02:50among high school students went up.

02:53I also wanted to ask about the cigarettes themselves.

02:55Are there safety concerns around these black market cigarettes about, you know, where they're

03:00coming from, how they're being manufactured, they might not have the, you know, regulated

03:05levels of certain things inside them and it could be worse for people?

03:08No.

03:09I think any cigarette is harmful to your health and I do not want to make it seem like the

03:14tobacco industry products that are highly taxed and sold in stores somehow have some

03:18veil of safety around them.

03:20No one should smoke regardless of whether it's an illicit product or a tax product.

03:24No one should stop.

03:25No one should smoke regardless of why they çıkart their Bosch.

03:27No problem.

03:29You also have suicidal signs of tobacco, which I think need to be stunned.

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