Budget to reveal new cigarette taxes will be used to stop nicotine vapes at the border

New cigarette taxes will be used to stop nicotine vapes at the border, as new figures show 60 per cent of illicit vapes are made or imported from China.

Australia has been flooded with tens of millions of mainly Chinese-made vapes. Picture: Tim Hunter.

Millions of dollars raised by boosting tax on cigarettes will be used to stop illegal nicotine-laced vapes crossing the Australian border.

The Australian Border Force and Therapeutic Goods Administration will both receive multimillion-dollar boosts to their bottom lines to ramp up import bans on vapes when new legislation comes into force sometimes in coming months.

Tuesday’s Budget is believed to contain a provision that part of the $3.3 billion which Treasurer Jim Chalmers will raise by increasing exercise on cigarettes and roll-your-own tobacco will be diverted into border enforcement.

The additional revenue is forecast to hit the government’s books over the next four years as tobacco excise rises five per cent a year for the next three years.

“The commonwealth will be providing funding to the TGA and Border Force for compliance and enforcement activities,’’ a spokeswoman for Health Minister Mark Butler confirmed.

“The details of their additional workload and funding will be finalised following further discussions with the states and territories.’’

While nicotine vapes are theoretically illegal except for people aged over the age of 18 years with a doctor’s prescription, Australia has been flooded with tens of millions of mainly Chinese-made vapes which get around the legislation by fraudulently claiming to contain no nicotine, or by not listing their ingredients.

Up to 90 million a year are estimated to be sold in Australia each year, mainly through discount shops, and shamelessly marketed at children through bright colours and fruit flavours, and loaded with nicotine to ensure children get addicted.

Mr Butler has announced a ban on all vapes except those sold at pharmacies with a prescription, but there are serious questions about how the enforcement will be carried out.

Australian Border Force officer Antony Wigoder with some of the 739,000 seized nicotine vaping products. Picture: Britta Campion / The Australian

The Australian Border Force has previously focused on illicit tobacco, drugs and firearms, and does not even have a testing facility to see if vapes contain nicotine, instead working with the TGA to attempt to identify nicotine vapes being illegally imported.

The TGA told The Australian that since October 1, 2021, more than 739,000 illicit nicotine vaping products had been seized.

Of these, 60 per cent – around 440,000 products – had been determined as being shipped from, or manufactured, in China.

Tens of thousands more vapes and nicotine vaping products were currently seized pending assessment.

From October 1, 2021, to May 2 this year, 19 infringement notices for unlawful importation of nicotine vaping products were issued to 11 entities, totalling $125,208.

“Seizure and loss of goods can represent a significant financial loss for the importer separately from any further enforcement action the TGA may take,’’ a TGA spokesperson said.

States and territories have also been seizing a small number of vapes that have made it across the border. In Queensland, state authorities seized 805 nicotine vapes from a shop in Burleigh Heads following a tip-off from the public.