Shadow Assistant Treasurer Pat Conaghan MP has said Australia must consider an ATF-style federal enforcement agency to protect revenue, dismantle organised crime networks, and restore control over the illicit tobacco, vape, and alcohol markets.
Mr Conaghan, who previously worked in the New South Wales Police Drug Squad, said the Albanese Government has dangerously lost control of the issue.
“This is one of the biggest public policy failures in modern Australian history. We’ve lost billions in revenue, we know that there are more smokers than ever, and criminal networks are the biggest winners,” Mr Conaghan said.
He said that while he’s concerned about the revenue impacts, the criminal aspect and ripple effects to community safety go well beyond the hit to the Government coffers.
“Communities right across the country are experiencing fire-bombings, gang violence and stand-over tactics. Insurance premiums near these premises have surged and businesses doing the right thing by selling legal tobacco are suffering significant year-on-year revenue losses. Legitimate small businesses, particularly in regional towns, are being forced to close due to higher costs and lower revenues,” he stated.
“The Australian Federal Police have made clear these are the same networks involved in drug trafficking and human exploitation. This is a community safety issue. It is a budget issue. And it is a national security issue.”
Mr Conaghan believes that the Senate Select Committee on the Impact of Illicit Tobacco on Crime and Community Safety must examine the creation of a permanent, stand-alone Federal Vaping, Alcohol and Tobacco Agency. This would be an Australian equivalent of the United States’ Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF).
“In my view, Australia needs a dedicated federal body with the sole mandate of dismantling these criminal networks and protecting revenue. If Labor can create new bureaucracies for everything else, it can create one to stop billions flowing to organised crime,” he said.
Mr Conaghan said the Government must admit its vaping prohibition has failed and work with the Coalition on a regulated and taxed model that restores control to the legal system.
“The Government banned legal sales and handed the market to organised crime. It was entirely predictable. And now a bi-partisan approach must be taken in order to put the genie back in the bottle,” he said.
Conaghan further warned of emerging evidence that the same criminal syndicates are expanding into illicit alcohol, particularly spirits such as gin and vodka.
“If alcohol follows the same trajectory as tobacco and vapes, the budget hit and risk to community health and safety will dwarf what we’re seeing today. Spirits are currently taxed at around 67 per cent. That price gap creates a massive incentive for illegal supply. History is set to repeat itself and the Government will only have itself to blame if it doesn’t act now.”
