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Landlords would be given the power to evict retailers caught selling illegal tobacco under sweeping new laws to be introduced by the state government to combat Sydney’s booming illicit cigarette trade.
Along with allowing for evictions, NSW Health would be able to shut down a business for 28 days, which could be extended to 12 months with a court order, and those found with a commercial quantity of illegal cigarettes face maximum sentences of seven years in prison, and $1.5 million in fines.
Australian Border Force officers with a container of illegal cigarettes.Credit: Luis Enrique Ascui
Premier Chris Minns flagged that the powerful new legislation, which includes similar measures to the Coalition plan, would be introduced to parliament in the coming sitting weeks.
“In a few days time we’ll unveil our response to what has been a massive increase in the illegal tobacco marketplace in NSW and across the country, and that is for some of the toughest penalties in the country,” Minns told Ben Fordham on 2GB.
“Queensland have just introduced very serious and similar laws, and I don’t want the marketplace migrating across the border from Queensland into NSW because we’ve got softer laws.”
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The government has already introduced a tobacco licence, which businesses must now obtain through Service NSW, and then display it in store.
Minns has previously said he’s happy to work with the Coalition in NSW to get illicit tobacco measures into law. His proposed jail time, hefty fines and closure orders are identical to the plan put forward by NSW Opposition Leader Mark Speakman last month.
The Coalition proposal would go even further, making it an offence for landlords who knowingly allow their tenant to use a storefront for selling illegal cigarettes or vapes.
NSW Labor wants its federal government colleagues to reduce the tobacco excise – which makes legal cigarettes significantly more expensive – to try to stop consumers going to the black market.
Increasing the tobacco tax is one of the government’s main tools to combat smoking, but revenue is down. While some of that can be attributed to lower smoking rates, Treasurer Jim Chalmers conceded the black market tobacco trade was a “challenge”.
Chalmers ruled out cutting the excise, saying he “respectfully disagreed” with Minns on the issue.
“I’m not convinced that cutting the excise on cigarettes would mean that that would be the end of illegal activity,” he said in June.
Meanwhile, the illegal tobacco trade is thriving.
Just moments after Minns announced some of his plan on 2GB, the Multi-Agency Strike Team (MAST) comprising NSW Police, Australian Federal Police, Border Force and other crime fighting agencies announced new charges relating to the discovery of 41 million illegal cigarettes at the Australian border in 2023.
Police said the tobacco has a value of $31 million. Seven people remain before the courts, and now a 42-year-old man is facing charges of importing tobacco products with intent to defraud revenue, relating to 25 million of the cigarettes.
He will appear in Downing Centre Local Court on July 31.
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