Housing Minister Clare O’Neil has claimed Australia\u2019s illegal tobacco issue is \u201cnot a tax problem\u201d despite growing calls for a federal review of the tobacco excise.<\/p>\n
New South Wales Health Minister Ryan Park has called for the Albanese government to review the excise amid a booming black market and alarming tobacco consumption rates.<\/p>\n
A senior police officer has also said storage space for seized tobacco products in NSW is becoming scarce, according to The Daily Telegraph<\/a>.<\/p>\n Appearing alongside Tasmanian Senator Claire Chandler on Channel Seven\u2019s Sunrise, the minister was asked if the Albanese government would review the excise.<\/p>\n Ms O\u2019Neil claimed the country had had \u201camazing success\u201d in reducing smoking rates.<\/p>\n \u201cI wouldn\u2019t deny though that illegal tobacco is a major threat to the success that we\u2019ve had,” she said on Wednesday morning.\u00a0<\/p>\n Referring to the excise debate, Ms O\u2019Neil then claimed: \u201cThis is not a tax problem, it is an enforcement problem.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat we need to do is lift the protections on the border to try to stop illegal tobacco coming into Australia and then work with the states to stop it being sold in corner shops around the country,” she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThat work is underway, we\u2019re having a lot of success.\u201d<\/p>\n Ms O’Neil said NSW Police\u2019s reported lack of storage for tobacco products was \u201cspeaking to that success\u201d, before reiterating she thought excise changes were “not the answer”.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWhen we talk to organisations like the Cancer Council, the Australian Medical Association, they tell us that reducing tax rates on tobacco would have two big effects: It would make more Australians start smoking more often and it would give billions of dollars back to big tobacco companies around Australia,” she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not the answer. Better enforcement of our laws is the answer and our government’s working really hard with the states to get that moving.\u201d<\/p>\n Ms Chandler agreed law enforcement had a role to play in tackling the illegal tobacco trade but said \u201cevery option needs to be on the table\u201d for governments to look at.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThere is no question that one of the reasons it is so out of control at the moment is because that excise is too high,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cSo I think governments of all levels, state and federal, need to be looking at all of the possible levers that they can potentially pull to try and get this under control.\u201d<\/p>\n