For the past four years, I have been sounding the alarm on black market vapes and tobacco and the Government imposed taxation and ‘ban’ environment that has led to their explosion.
And in almost every meeting I have attended and media release I have dispersed, a warning on the similarities between the illegal nicotine market and alcohol has been included.
This week we are seeing reports of the fire-bombings that have engulfed Melbourne’s hospitality industry being linked to organised crime and the sale of black-market liquor.
As a Government, we cannot possibly be ‘shocked’ by this. And our law enforcement agencies have been advising that the warning signs were written large on this for at least the past two years.
The criminal players and their distribution networks are already in place thanks to billions of dollars in funding through illicit tobacco and vapes. The only surprising thing is that it took this long to clearly see alcohol entering the supply chain.
But it’s not just the fire-bombings and standover tactics that should concern us. It’s the safety of the products our citizens and tourists blindly purchase at ‘trusted’ venues, assuming they are regulated. We cannot allow the possibility of events like those seen in Laos that resulted in the deaths of young Australians Bianca Jones and Holly Bowles to occur on our shores. And make no mistake, without effective regulation our people are left at risk.
The environment that has been allowed to fester was inadvertently created by Governments wanting to ‘do good’ when it comes to public health. And while the intent is admirable, the methodology has become increasingly naïve and weighed down by the fear of negative public perception. Rather than listen to actual experts in our law enforcement agencies and those on the front line, policies have instead been dictated from board rooms and market research sessions.
We need to start again when it comes to the alcohol taxation system. Our current system is arbitrarily complex with different rules across each kind of alcohol, and spirits (the easiest to produce and distribute products on the black market), are currently taxed at around 67 per cent. That price gap has created a massive incentive for illegal supply.
On top of that, we need to effectively empower our law enforcement agencies to handle the escalating situation, starting with 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).
The horse is bolting and the time to reign it in was years ago. We need to get out in front now before it multiplies.
ENDS
