WA tobacco wars: Experts say we’re losing the race to tackle illicit tobacco and crime rings

Western Australia is losing the “improvement race” to crack down on illegal tobacco and experts say long-promised new laws cannot come soon enough after a recent spate of firebombing attacks across Perth. The State currently lags far behind and has only given its regulators four of the 19 tools and powers that public health and tobacco control experts say are needed. A firebombing targeting a Bunbury convenience store over the weekend — the latest in a string of attacks — has highlighted the urgency for new laws to emulate the crackdowns happening in South Australia, Queensland and NSW. Simon Chapman, a public health expert who has worked on tobacco control for more than five decades, says WA is “way behind taking action” compared to those three States. “Unfortunately, they’re not on the podium at all, and that’s such a strange thing to be saying, because historically, Western Australia has always been one of the most advanced and innovative states in tobacco control,” he told The West. Public Health Association of Australia policy and advocacy manager Malcolm Baalam said enforcement around the country had lagged over the past decade as the illegal tobacco trade exploded, but it had improved in the past two or three years. “There is a bit of an improvement race going on between the jurisdictions, as each one says it’s got the toughest regulation in Australia, and that’s a good thing,” he told The West. “But WA does not appear to be winning the improvement race. It appears to be coming last in the improvement race.” He said the ultimate end game had to be stopping young people from becoming addicted to nicotine and, over time, reducing the death toll from smoking. A WA Government spokesperson said new laws – discussed since August – would be introduced to Parliament as soon as they were ready. “We believe the new legislation will be the toughest in the country,” the spokesperson said. “We’ve been very vocal about the work we’re doing to improve our tobacco control legislation… In the meantime, the Department of Health will continue to work collaboratively with WA Police and Federal agencies to crack down on the illicit tobacco market.” Dr Chapman said the three key things needed were large on-the-spot fines – more than could be paid “with petty cash out of the drawer” – shop closures of 90 days instead of a “tobacconists’ long weekend” of three days, and the power to prosecute landlords who knowingly allow their premises to be used for illegal businesses. South Australia closes shops for 28 days, while NSW and Queensland now close them for 90 days. NSW also issues fines of close to $1.6 million. In Queensland, commercial landlords who knowingly allow tenants to sell illegal tobacco face a year in prison. A report card by some of Mr Baalam’s PHAA colleagues, published in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, showed that WA’s existing laws fall well short of best practice, meeting just four of 19 criteria. It lacks a definition of “illicit tobacco”, the power to close shops and immediately suspend licences, penalties for landlords, and even the use of sniffer dogs during searches. The West put the list of 15 regulatory tools and powers that the State lacks to WA Health Minister Meredith Hammat. “The new legislation will complement national laws and protect Western Australians from these harmful products and will be introduced to parliament as soon as it’s ready,” a spokesperson said in reply. The Health Department has inspected more than 1977 premises and seized more than 220,000 vapes, 1 million cigarettes and 170 kg of loose tobacco since the start of 2024. The Bunbury arson attack was the latest in WA’s tobacco wars. A teenager faced court this week charged with allegedly deliberately lighting a fire at a Baldivis convenience store on December 22. Prosecutors allege he was recruited by a crime syndicate. Earlier in December, a 22-year-old was charged with arson after a blaze in November at a Midland tobacconist. In other incidents late last year, bullets were fired into the convenience store in Ballajura, a different shop in Midland was also hit with an arson attack and a beauty salon in Orelia was targeted with a fiery ram raid. Police Commissioner Col Blanch has described these as common standover tactics. Dr Chapman said it was almost inevitable that would happen “when criminals are involved in commerce.” “They do it with rival drug dealers, they shoot them and beat them up and all that sort of stuff. They do it with people who are rebirthing cars, with people who have got a lot of stolen goods … so of course they’re going to be carrying on like that with tobacco,” he said. Both Mr Baalam and Dr Chapman said it appeared lawmakers and authorities were caught by surprise at how quickly and widespread the illegal tobacco problem had become – bringing organised crime activity into suburbs and starving government coffers of billions in taxes. “There’s always been illicit drugs being sold underground, you know a number to call or you know somebody who can get it for you, and all that sort of stuff,” Dr Chapman said. “But it’s unprecedented that there has been any commodity that’s used by people every day, like a household grocery item, if you like, which has been flagrantly sold like this. So I don’t think that they expected that it would happen.” Mr Baalam said the only conclusion from what had been happening was that enforcement hadn’t kept pace with the changed realities of price impacts and the new involvement of organsied crime. “Three years ago, we’d rightly been critical that enforcement was not good in this country and that it allowed the situation with illegal tobacco to get out of control. It is clear that all the governments are trying to overcome that situation very actively, so that is to be commended,” he said.