Tuesday, 17 February 2026

 Ann-Marie HERMANS (South-Eastern Metropolitan) (18:04): (2315) My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Casino, Gaming and Liquor Regulation, and the action I seek is that the minister join me in meeting with local traders who have been affected by the illegal tobacco trade. I met with the small business owners in Frankston who featured on A Current Affair last year and are living in fear after an illegal tobacco store moved in next door. After much advocacy I am delighted to inform the chamber that this store has finally moved out of their quiet suburban shopping strip in a little cul-de-sac residential area, and this community is now safer and has returned to normal trading. However, not far from my office in Dandenong, near the very popular Justice Cafe, is the site of the Kabana Shisha Lounge on Clow Street, which was rammed, engulfed in fuel and bombed by criminal elements. These very different examples are emblematic of a broader issue across communities like Dandenong, Springvale, Noble Park, Keysborough and Cranbourne, which have long been hotspots for illicit tobacco activity, increasing crime and community safety concerns. Residents and small businesses in these areas and surrounding areas have been raising concerns for years about unlicensed operators, 24-hour vape and tobacco shops and the violent crime associated with illicit tobacco and drug cartels. Communities have endured firebombings, extortion and the intimidation that comes with organised crime infiltrating local shopping strips.

The tobacco scheme that was supposed to crack down on the illicit tobacco trade has instead exposed alarming weaknesses in enforcement – weaknesses that are being felt acutely in communities across Victoria and in my electorate in the South-Eastern Metropolitan Region. On the very first day of the new regime the Age reported that illicit cigarettes are being sold openly less than 100 metres from the headquarters of Tobacco Licensing Victoria and just 200 metres from this Parliament. Now, if the government cannot enforce its own laws on its own doorstep, what hope is there for suburbs across the south-east, where illicit tobacco activity is already entrenched?

The government have not given authorities the power to shut down stores, and they have deployed just 14 inspectors, or seven teams, to police an estimated 8000 retailers, including more than 1300 illicit operators. Victoria Police has also reportedly refused to provide regular escorts due to safety concerns. Queensland’s Liberal–National government gave Queensland Health powers to shut down illegal stores, which has seen them close 200 shops since November 2025. According to the Australian Association of Convenience Stores CEO, Queensland’s approach is the best in the nation. The minister absurdly claims that 14 inspectors are ‘a good start’ and that he is considering his own closure laws. But every day the minister delays strengthening the scheme he puts more people’s lives at risk, and given that the current Labor government has direct associations with the CFMEU and now the CFMEU has direct association – (Time expired)