00:01Well, these laws will target both the distribution and the retail and importation of this illegal
00:09tobacco. It'll also make it easier for authorities to seize proceeds of crime and even assets
00:14of criminals linked to this illegal trade. But I think one of the more interesting parts
00:19about these laws that are getting introduced into the parliament is the way that it'll
00:23change the way prosecutions in this area happen. So at the moment, under current laws, if authorities
00:28want to prosecute a person who they've identified as having, you know, selling or having or bringing
00:33to the country illegal tobacco, they have to prove that the person knew that that tobacco
00:38was brought into the country illegally and that it should have been subjected to a customs
00:43duty. But these new laws kind of change the way that happens. I spoke to the Assistant
00:48Minister for Customs, Julian Hill, earlier today, who explained how these new laws will
00:53work. The new laws think about it as a list of observable indicators, very simple fact-based
01:00things like, is the tobacco appropriately packaged? Is it a menthol cigarette even hiding in plain
01:07packaging? Is it being concealed? Does it have paperwork at the border? Or my personal favourite,
01:13is the retail price of this packet of cigarettes less than the amount of excise and GST combined?
01:20If any of these facts are proven, just one of them, that establishes the reasonable suspicion
01:25of the criminal offence of importing possession or conveying.
01:29So those new kind of obvious indicators are the big difference here. And, you know, you walk into a
01:35smoke shop and the authority will be able to say, look, that packet doesn't have the plain packaging
01:40that Australians are, you know, used to expecting in, you know, convenience stores, wherever you see
01:44cigarettes for sale and it is mandated here. And that's a really obvious sign, or as he says,
01:50the cost, where it's, you know, with the taxes associated and GST, you can't really get cigarettes
01:56or tobacco in Australia for under kind of $40, $50 basically. Whereas some of these cheaper illegal
02:02cigarettes, people are getting for $10, $12 a packet. So those are those really obvious indicators
02:07he's talking about. However, complicating that, we know that organised crime is already starting to
02:12use fake plain packaging. So they're concocting like false copies of what is legally available
02:19and repackaging some of these products. So that will complicate this issue. But the government is
02:24taking a different track to what the opposition and even One Nation have been talking about. The
02:28opposition talking about cutting the excise as a solution to this problem, basically suggesting that
02:34that would take the wind out of the sails of organised crime by cutting, you know, making the product
02:39less appealing. So if you can get legal cigarettes for less money, you're less likely to go and buy
02:44an illegal product. And, you know, that will make that organised criminal element less appealing
02:50in this country. But these Labor laws, they'll be introduced to Parliament today. So we'll start
02:55to see them flow through and some of that reaction.
