NSW cops could be reallocated to combat illicit tobacco trade as Premier Chris Minns throws down gauntlet on excise
NSW Police could be redeployed from tackling domestic violence and youth crime to tackle the booming illicit tobacco trade – with Premier Chris Minns branding the situation as 'intolerable'.
Mr Minns on Tuesday threw down the gauntlet with the federal government over the tobacco excise, amid budget considerations about rolling out resources to tackle the statewide scourge.
Part of this includes whether NSW Police focus more on the tobacco war.
The Premier said he was worried 'as a constituent and a father' about the number of tobacconists propping up around Sydney, but said he wondered if state and federal leaders needed to take a step back and rethink the tobacco excise.
'I think that that's important. I'm not arguing that the public health benefits of putting an exercise on tobacco.
'But, the massive increase (in the excise) has exploded the illicit tobacco marketplace.
'It's meant that many people who would go near any illegal behaviour ordinarily are buying illicit tobacco almost daily, almost from every street.
'We need to look at how big this excise is and how its driving illegal tobacco sales'.
Currently, illicit tobacco sales are investigated by NSW Health.
Mr Minns said he wanted those officials 'running hospitals, not conducting criminal investigations' and that police would instead have to decide whether they would allocate police to tobacco 'at the expense of every other crime in NSW'.
He asked: 'Is there a better way?'
'The massive excise has meant people haven't stopped smoking, it just transferred their sales into illegal tobacco sales.
'The current situation is intolerable.
'We can't have every to-rent shop on every high street in Sydney in Sydney being taken over by a tobacco company when rate of tobacco has remained stable'.
Mr Minns said the 'biggest supporters' of the excise were organised criminals.
When asked if he'd put his feelings to the federal government, he said: 'I have now'.
The excise on tobacco in Australia increases twice per year in March and September under law.
Despite the excise, the revenue made from those sales by the federal government has tanked, according to the most recent federal budget.
The federal government expects to earn $7.4bn in revenue from the tobacco excise in this financial year. That's down sharply from $12.6bn in 2022–23, and an earlier peak of $16.3bn in 2019–20.
The downward trend is expected to continue.
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