Illegal tobacco stores to be shut down, evicted under new plan

With Sydney flooded by illicit tobacco and vapes, the NSW Opposition will push for black market retailers to be shut down for a month and booted from their leases.

The NSW Opposition is calling for tougher laws to shut down retailers selling illegal tobacco. Picture: Australian Border Force

Retailers caught selling illicit tobacco would be shut down and booted from their premises under a major proposal from the NSW Opposition.

The Coalition believes the new laws, which also include a seven-year jail term for repeat offenders, would make NSW “the hardest place in the country to sell illegal cigarettes and vapes”.

With the tobacco wars continuing across Sydney, Opposition health spokesperson Kellie Sloane, who will introduce the bill to parliament, said it was “time to give authorities the powers to shut these places down.”

“We need a serious approach to crack down on dodgy tobacconists. They have popped up on suburban street corners, near schools. The public are crying out for action and it’s time to take this seriously,” Ms Sloane told The Sunday Telegraph.

The bill will allow the state’s compliance officers to shut an illegal business down for a month. The retailers’ landlord will then have the power to cancel their lease with a two-week notice period.

Both the Cancer Council NSW and Lung Foundation Australia have thrown their support behind the legislation.

Anita Dessaix from Cancer Council NSW said the rampant sale of illicit tobacco was “undermining decades of public health progress”.

The number of tobacco traders in NSW has increased by 25 per cent over the past five years to almost 20,000.

This masthead has revealed $10 black cigarettes are brazenly available at Sydney convenience stores, while reputable businesses selling legal products have been targeted by criminal behaviour.

In its annual report, the NSW Crime Commission warned the tobacco and vaping industry was now “mirroring the tactics utilised in other illicit drug markets”.

“The profits generated by illicit tobacco trade are often used to fund larger drug importations and violent offences including standovers, kidnappings, assaults and damage to property” the Commission claimed.

Opposition health spokesperson Kellie Sloane said it “was time to give authorities the powers to shut these places down”. Photo: NewsWire/ Gaye Gerard

Earlier this month Premier Chris Minns called out his federal counterparts by blaming the excise on cigarettes, now charged at $1.40 a smoke, for creating a “giant black market.”

The Premier also flagged the issue had become so critical that he may need to consider reassigning police working on serious crime issues.

However, no such action was taken in last week’s state budget, with tobacco compliance remaining in the hands of roughly 20 health bureaucrats for the whole of NSW.

This masthead has previously revealed just one compliance officer is overseeing an area the size of Denmark in southern NSW.

Last week Upper House MP Rod Roberts called for a “multifaceted taskforce in which NSW Health staff work with police”.

Illegal vapes seized in multiple recent raids. Picture: Supplied

“The NSW Police Force currently regulates security licences and tattoo parlours, amongst other things. They have criminal analysts and access to intelligence and a number of resources around organised crime,” Mr Roberts said.

The State Government declined to comment - but pointed to a stricter mandatory tobacco license program which begins on July 1.

Originally published as Illegal tobacco stores to be shut down, evicted under new plan