Why are law-abiding WA citizens turning a blind eye to organised crime?

2 hours ago 1

Opinion

January 13, 2026 — 9.33am

Australians are, by and large, a nation of “do-gooders” and “curtain twitchers”, despite the larrikin narrative.

We are the first to call Crime Stoppers over a suspicious car in the street or a surge in local shoplifting.

Smokers can’t resist the lure of cheap cigarettes it seems.

Yet, there is one crime currently unfolding on what appears to be every second street corner that we aren’t just ignoring but actively funding.

When it comes to the illegal tobacco trade, the public’s sense of civic duty has been thoroughly stubbed out by the lure of a $15 packet of smokes.

Because when it comes to illegal tobacco products, no one – bar the police and government – appears to really care.

Smokers don’t want to go back to paying upwards of $40 a packet, dissidents don’t want to fill the government’s tax coffers, and people who don’t smoke shrug their shoulders.

The figures are reflected in the government’s declining tobacco excise intake, and even its own research, which reveals at least half of the nation’s tobacco market is made up of illicit cigarettes and costing taxpayers more than $11.8 billion a year.

Where the police can usually rely on the public’s support in reporting illegal activity, in this instance the silence is deafening.

No dobbing-in seems to be forthcoming, and it’s not hard to see why.

A half-price deal is too good to be true and – in WA anyway – the cheap cigarettes are very easy to come by.

No hush-hush conversation. No slipping the packet under the counter. The shop owners don’t hide what they’re doing because no one’s watching and telling them off.

And because every shop on every street corner now sells cheap smokes, people who have for their entire lives been law-abiding citizens are now finding themselves complicit in the illegal, violent tobacco trade by buying them and making some organised crime bosses very rich.

The consequences for all involved? Not much, apparently.

In comparison to the rest of Australia, WA has the softest laws in relation to illegal tobacco. A fine of $10,000 if individuals are found selling them for the first time – rising to $20,000 for subsequent offences, and $40,000 for companies – if the Department of Health catches them out.

In comparison, shops over east are shut down on the spot and owners can be fined millions of dollars if they’re caught peddling illegal products.

Unsurprisingly, it’s now harder to get cheap cigarettes anywhere east of the Nullarbor.

Some will say that’s not a good thing, but there’s another side to this exploding industry that should be more concerning.

Firebombings, shootings and arson. Maybe the odd ram raid thrown in for good measure.

These have become a byproduct of the illegal tobacco industry, as more organised crime syndicates attempt to muscle in on what is clearly a lucrative business.

On Monday, WA Police revealed Taskforce Maverick – which was established in response to the escalating “tobacco war” violence – had charged 11 people with a combined 51 offences, including criminal damage by fire, stealing, traffic and drug offences.

Senior Sergeant Ryan McGuggon said the alleged “low-level criminals” had been paid “a grand total of nothing”.

“You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure out that getting paid $0 to go to jail for a very long time is not a very good deal,” he said.

“The criminal syndicates that stand out, that use these stand over attack tactics have no honour.”

Another problem is that the people allegedly recruited to fire the shots and strike the matches are prone to hitting the wrong business, such as the case of the cafe in Beechboro that had a car plough through the front of it on Christmas Day.

Police said they believed the intended target was a nearby tobacco store that was allegedly selling illegal smokes.

This time, no one was hurt, but that might not always be the case. It was a case of mistaken identity that saw Melbourne’s tobacco wars turn deadly when an innocent 27-year-old woman was killed in a firebombing attack last year.

By maintaining its fine system, WA has effectively hung out an “open for business” sign for organised crime.

Police can only do so much without public support, but they are even more hamstrung when the business driving a violent interstate turf war is penalised in the same way as a minor licensing breach.

We are playing with fire, and eventually, someone other than a shopfront is going to get burned.

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