Black market cigarettes openly purchased in Melbourne as legal tobacco trade plummets
ABCAt a busy tobacconist in the Melbourne suburb of Frankston, a constant flow of customers are walking through the front door and leaving with colourful packets of cigarettes in their hands. Health Minister Mark Butler told 7.30 that price signals around tobacco were "a very important tool in the toolbox of reducing smoking rates". James Martin says the government's current tax policy on tobacco is fuelling the black market for cigarettes. "Now that's not due, again, primarily to people quitting smoking, but rather taking that money instead of paying tax on it, paying for illegal product that is going straight into the hands of organised crime." He said the government was focusing on making cigarettes "less attractive" to new smokers through its $63.4 million "Give Up For Good" campaign, which involves four anti-smoking Health Minister Mark Butler believes Australia can still reach a national daily smoking rate of 5 per cent by 2030.
History of this topic
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