I can see seven smokes shops from my bus stop

The Age

8 hours ago

The issue of illicit tobacco is ramping up across Australia. We know that retailers, particularly tobacconists, are openly selling illicit cigarettes and are deliberately under-cutting public health efforts to help people quit smoking. Apart from their lower price, illicit cigarettes are no different from taxed cigarettes. Both products are deadly, addictive and cut a decade of life from people who smoke throughout their life.
Besides the health impacts, the cost of cigarettes is the most often cited reason for wanting to quit smoking. The lure of cheap cigarettes combined with retailers who are emboldened there will be no repercussions for selling is fuelling the illicit market. We're not talking about a few rogue individuals selling cigarettes out of their cars in dark laneways – most Australians would never dream of buying smokes this way.
The lack of timely and transparent data on the size and scope of the illicit tobacco market, paired with slow and incomplete action to stamp it out, is threatening Australia's tobacco control success. The tobacco industry has jumped at this golden opportunity, filled the evidence gap with its own biased reports and called for dramatic tobacco tax rollbacks.
Federal government data from October 2024 estimates that around 18 per cent of the total tobacco market is illicit, but it is fair to assume that the illicit market has since grown. Communities, especially parents, are tired of seeing yet another grubby tobacconist pop up in their neighbourhood shops.
Today, July 1, NSW has finally introduced a scheme that will require tobacco sellers to be licensed – from October this year. Adoption of a tobacco sales licensing scheme with a high fee and powerful enforcement options such as total loss of licence is long overdue.
The NSW scheme must be more than bureaucratic paperwork, powers to enable authorities to immediately shut down shops caught selling illicit tobacco are needed. The scheme should also be expanded to allow authorities to prosecute landlords who lease shops to illicit tobacco sellers. A licensing scheme could also be used to strictly limit the number of tobacco retailers. When less than 10 per cent of the Australian population regularly smokes, it is ridiculous that cigarettes are easier to buy than fresh fruit and vegetables.
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The other day, I looked around while waiting for a bus in central Sydney and counted the number of places I could buy cigarettes. There were no less than seven shops selling smokes within spitting distance of my stop. Three of the shops even had large, lit-up signs advertising they were tobacconists. The windows of these same shops were filled with a wall of colourful sweets, candies, and snacks – like a beacon for children and hungry teenagers.
A tobacconist in my own suburb boldly sold a customer a handful of loose cigarettes pulled from a cheap pack while I was waiting in the queue. When selling dangerous, illicit goods is done so brazenly and openly, it requires equally bold action to protect public health.