We're cracking down on illicit tobacco and we're putting the people profiting from black market tobacco on notice.
The Albanese Labor Government will provide $156.7 million to help tackle the tobacco black market.
This substantial investment will give law enforcement agencies the funds they need to take the fight to criminals.
Long-term smokers die 10 years earlier than non-smokers and tobacco smoking remains one of the leading cause of preventable death and disability.
Our policies are all about helping Australians live longer and healthier lives.
The government's changes to tobacco excise are designed to encourage smokers to quit.
This announcement complements our increased compliance and enforcement exercises nationally.
The package being announced tomorrow will add to the Government's existing $188.5 million commitment announced in January 2024 which provided funding for a major Border Force crackdown and strengthened cooperation between the Commonwealth, states and territories to combat illicit tobacco.
This additional, significant funding is focused on breaking the business model of criminal networks by dismantling their business capabilities and confiscating illicitly-gained assets and monies.
We're stepping up funding for the Australian Federal Police (AFP), increasing international collaboration to better understand the sources of the illegal trade, enabling use of emerging technology at the border and committing more money to the Office of the Illicit Tobacco and E-cigarettes Commissioner.
Specific measures for sustained disruption of the illicit trade in tobacco and associated nicotine products include:
- $49.4m to expand the AFP-led Criminal Assets Confiscation Taskforce (CACT) and enhance actions to disrupt profits from illicit tobacco by targeting criminal groups involved in the trade.
- This includes funding for the AFP, states and territory law enforcement agencies, the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission, the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre, the Australian Taxation Office, the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions and the Australian Border Force.
- $7.0m to support the Australian Border Force to utilise emerging technology to screen and detect more illicit tobacco at our borders, stop it at the source and disrupt the international market.
- $19.9m in increased funding for the Office of the Illicit Tobacco and E-cigarettes Commissioner to continue delivering its critical work including national collaboration to shore up current compliance and enforcement arrangements.
- $1.4m to establish a new international collaboration for a regional assessment of illicit tobacco markets, in partnership with international experts to better understand criminal network behaviours at the production and overseas distribution stages of the supply chain.
Funding is also being provided to the Department of Health and Aged Care to build on the government's world-leading tobacco and vaping reforms and support the broader response to the harms of illicit tobacco and novel nicotine products. Funding includes:
- $40.0m to support states and territories to establish local level capability to swiftly respond to their own unique compliance and enforcement challenges, and strengthen regulatory authorities' cross-jurisdictional tactical partnerships for enforcement capacity.
- $31.6m to strengthen compliance and enforcement functions under the Public Health (Tobacco and Other Products) Act 2023 and under the Therapeutic Goods Act 1989.
- $4.0m to extend the National Tobacco and E-cigarette public health campaign to target the motivations and behaviours of people who use illicit tobacco.
- $3.3m for the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions (CDPP) to prosecute contraventions of the Public Health (Tobacco and Other Products) Act 2023 and the Therapeutic Goods Act 1989 to address non-compliance.
