'Too slow, too weak' - Still no illicit tobacco shop closures in Gippsland

THE State Government’s Tobacco Licensing Victoria taskforce has so far issued “short term” closure notices to 51 illicit tobacco shops – none of them in regional Victoria.

Certainly, none in Bass Coast or South Gippsland.

Since the government announced on September 9 that it was “slamming the door” on Victoria’s Illicit tobacco trade, they’ve managed to shut down just three outlets per working day.

Victoria Police say there are more than 1000 across the state, some say up to as many as 1600 outlets, in every suburb and every town.

They’ve even taken to updating their ‘Tobacco shop closures’ website weekly, on a Friday afternoon, instead of daily as they had been doing since the September 9 fanfare around the launch of the “slamming the doors” campaign.

At that rate, they’ll have closed 230 shops by Christmas, at which point, they’ll start reopening again, after serving out their “short-term” closure order.

It’s not good enough, according to Gippsland South MP Danny O’Brien.

“Labor’s efforts to tackle illegal tobacco and the organised crime behind it are too slow, too weak and too easy to beat,” Mr O’Brien said this week.

“This isn’t a crackdown, it’s a token effort.

“An elected Nationals and Liberal Government will bolster laws and close down retailers who break the law so Victorians can see real results, not spin.”

His comments come after reports in the Age in recent days that the crime syndicates were moving to evade the new closure laws by directing their stores to trade outside the hours when TLV officers are rostered on, including weekends.

This hasn’t been a problem in regional areas where they are yet to visit, apart from Geelong, where social media lit up in the past week as TLV taskforce officers arrived in town.

But there has been some sign of outlets in Bass Coast and South Gippsland opening and closing their doors without notice.

The practice of keeping most of their stash of illegal tobacco in the boots of cars nearby has long been the case and is continuing locally, even without any sign of the government’s so-called crackdown.

Monash MP, Mary Aldred, who has been leading the Federal Opposition’s campaign to cut the excise and drive organised crime out of the tobacco market agrees with the criticism of the Victorian Government’s efforts to date.

“The Victorian Labor Government claimed victory on illegal tobacco shops before any were shut, and it’s clear they haven’t sent anyone to our region. It’s Ben Carroll’s own version of wharfie time,” said Ms Aldred last week.

“Let’s be clear about who is profiting. Bikie gangs and criminal cartels are selling vapes to children, while illegal cigarettes have striped $42 billion from excise that could be funding roads and hospitals,” she said.

“Australia’s black market for tobacco is now among the largest anywhere in the world. As much as 80 per cent of the tobacco consumed in this country is illicit, and those aren't my numbers, they come from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.”

Ms Aldred said the Federal Government’s excise tax increases, which now accounted for 71.5 per cent of the cost of a legal pack of cigarettes, had provided the opportunity for a black-market bonanza, but they weren’t prepared to take action to fix the massive law and order problem they had caused.

“Labor has effectively handed criminals a $30-a-pack margin to undercut every law-abiding shopkeeper in Australia, and they have seized it with both hands.

“That’s why the Coalition will cut the tobacco excise by 80% to claw back the illegal market and back it in with properly resourced enforcement.”

In the past week, the taskforce has issued notices to one store in Lara, one in Thomson, and one in Corio, all outer suburbs of Geelong, and three in Geelong.

The other 45 short-term closures of illicit tobacco stores have all been in metro Melbourne, mostly in the city’s west.

Under the new laws introduced by State Parliament, the TLV taskforce can issue both short-term closure notices and long-term closure notices, but the latter requires them to apply to the heavily overburdened Magistrates’ Court for a closure order.

So far, no long-term closure notices have been issued.

Tobacco Licensing Victoria says the short-term closures stop businesses from selling illicit tobacco while they consider other enforcement action, including prosecution.

They say significant penalties, including fines of up to $2.5 million and 20 years’ jail, apply to anyone who enters, operates from or makes a sale from premises that have been closed.