Thursday, 19 March 2026

 Bev McARTHUR (Western Victoria) (12:00): (1277) My question is to the Minister for Casino, Gaming and Liquor Regulation. Minister, I read with great interest – you can imagine how I hang out for your media releases – on Sunday your media release titled ‘Butting out illicit tobacco’ trumpeting the seizure of $5 million worth of illegal tobacco. By any measure, Minister, that is a drop in the ocean. We have only got 14 tobacco licensing inspectors compared to 78 in New South Wales. How do you expect your tough new laws to be enforced when you will not invest in enforcement personnel?

 Enver ERDOGAN (Northern Metropolitan – Minister for Casino, Gaming and Liquor Regulation, Minister for Corrections, Minister for Youth Justice) (12:01): I thank Mrs McArthur for her question and her interest in our tough new tobacco licensing scheme, the first of its kind in this state’s history and backed by a $46 million investment. I want to take this opportunity to thank the Treasurer for her strong support for the licensing scheme. It is an amazing scheme, a scheme that is focused on making sure that people that are selling tobacco must be fit and proper persons, and it has the tough new penalties to match, with up to 15 years imprisonment and fines of up to $1.8 million. And aren’t they doing some amazing work? I think $5 million in the first month is a fantastic start for a new organisation. Over 3 million cigarettes taken off our streets – I think that is fantastic for health outcomes and good for community safety.

Of course there is more to do, and that is why on the weekend – Mrs McArthur, you reminded me – we had the amazing announcement of closures of stores that do the wrong thing. We are empowering the regulator and empowering Victoria Police to shut the shops of those doing the wrong thing and also empowering landlords so that when landlords want to remove these criminal elements from their premises, they can do so. So we are empowering landlords, but of course if landlords are doing the wrong thing and are knowingly involved, then they will also face tough new penalties. I think when we talk about inspectors we know that this is a national problem and it needs a national approach. We are doing our bit in Victoria. The amount of inspectors is only one part of the equation, but they are doing amazing work. I take this opportunity to thank our frontline staff.

 Bev McARTHUR (Western Victoria) (12:02): Thank you, Minister. Your release further quoted:

Our inspectors are moving fast to crack down on people doing the wrong thing – anyone caught selling illicit tobacco will face serious consequences.

Only Labor has the new solutions to keep Victorians safe.

If under-resourcing is your new solution, how can you say you believe dismantling the illicit tobacco trade is so urgent? You are not taking it seriously. When are you going to provide more inspectors?

 Enver ERDOGAN (Northern Metropolitan – Minister for Casino, Gaming and Liquor Regulation, Minister for Corrections, Minister for Youth Justice) (12:03): I thank Mrs McArthur for outlining our plan. I think I have been very clear in this place: we are making it harder to sell, harder to profit from and easier to shut down these illicit operators because we are cracking down. We have got zero tolerance for criminal enterprise, so we are cracking down and this is the next step. As I said, this is a national problem that requires a national approach. In Victoria we are leading the way. We will have the toughest regulator with these new changes in place.

Bev McArthur: New South Wales have got 78 inspectors; you’ve got 14.

Enver ERDOGAN: Thank you, Mrs McArthur, I will take that interjection. I have been very clear that this is only one part of the equation. There is a lot more happening that I cannot share for operational reasons, but I can say that just in the first month we have gathered a lot of intelligence and you will read a lot more about the crackdown.