Evan MULHOLLAND (Northern Metropolitan) (18:12): (1195) My question is to the Minister for Casino, Gaming and Liquor Regulation. On Friday 30 January the minister put out a press release titled ‘Smoking out illicit tobacco’. Victoria has 14 tobacco licensing inspectors. That is the same number Tasmania has, and they have a fraction of Victoria’s population. Queensland has 43, Western Australia has 40, South Australia has 38. Why does Victoria have so few?
Enver ERDOGAN (Northern Metropolitan – Minister for Casino, Gaming and Liquor Regulation, Minister for Corrections, Minister for Youth Justice) (18:12): I thank Mr Mulholland for his question and his interest in Tobacco Licensing Victoria, the first regulator of its kind in Victoria’s history. I might take this opportunity to also acknowledge the Treasurer, who backed in this new regulator with $46 million of investment, because on this side of the chamber we do not talk about community safety, we also invest in it. The new regulator will be tasked with ensuring that there is tough new enforcement on the beat. It is about a regulator that is focused on enforcement, and the announcement I made last week was about making sure we are going to have officers and inspectors around our state focused on making sure we get ahead of this illicit trade, appreciating that this work requires a national approach. This is not unique to Victoria, and the 14 we have, the number of inspectors, is only one part of that equation. Inspectors are not going to be working alone. They are going to be working in partnership with other agencies. Understand? We have already seen some of the fruits of the engagement between Victorian police and federal police in the amount of arrests we have seen. Today in Victoria, I want to remind the chamber, we have had 150 arrests. Almost $40 million of illicit products and cash have already been seized. But this is just the beginning. The licensing scheme is a major new tool. We are confident we will have a strong start, and the capability will be improved as it continues.
Rather than going door to door, inspectors are deployed based on a risk basis and are intelligence led. That means we do not want to overburden some businesses that are doing the right thing, understanding that a lot of supermarkets and grocery markets are doing the right thing. There is no need to overburden them with inspectors. This work is going to be targeted, because we want to protect them. We want to make sure they continue to thrive in this state. Put simply, Victoria’s enforcement approach is built on coordination and intelligence, not the size of one team alone. We will continue to do the work, we will work with other jurisdictions and we will work with the Commonwealth to make sure we smoke out the illicit trade.
Evan MULHOLLAND (Northern Metropolitan) (18:14): Minister, the government allocates more resources to the Premier’s media team than it does to the 14 tobacco licensing inspectors responsible for tackling the illicit tobacco trade. How can anyone in Victoria expect to feel safe and how are legitimate businesses expected to survive when the priorities of the government are media spin instead of tangible, practical action on the illicit tobacco trade?
Enver ERDOGAN (Northern Metropolitan – Minister for Casino, Gaming and Liquor Regulation, Minister for Corrections, Minister for Youth Justice) (18:15): I reject the premise of Mr Mulholland’s question. Tobacco Licensing Victoria has strong enforcement powers, including suspending or cancelling licences, seizing illegal products and court action. In particular, with our new regulator, there is up to 15 years imprisonment. That has got to make the criminals think, and we know there is intelligence that they are concerned. They are looking to adapt their business model because they are concerned about our new scheme. Give Tobacco Licensing Victoria a chance. You will see the work that they will do, and I am sure there will be further announcements in this space throughout this year.