Smokers Turn to Black Market because Quitting Products Too Expensive | The Business | ABC NEWS

Jul 21, 2025 | The consumption of illicit tobacco is growing, as more tobacconists pop up across the country, and revenue is lost from the legal excise. It's causing debate between politicians as experts warn Australia needs to crack down on the trade. In 2023, it was estimated that illegal tobacco consumption may account for close to 30 per cent of the total tobacco market in Australia, although these estimates by the legal tobacco industry are disputed. And despite sectors of government agreeing Australia has a problem with the illegal trade, there's mixed messaging about how to tackle the problem. Treasurer Jim Chalmers has ruled out lowering the tax excise on cigarettes, which will rise again in September, while NSW Premier Chris Minns has a different view and thinks the tax should be reduced. University of Sydney public health professor Becky Freeman says if the government was to lower the tobacco excise, it would send the wrong message. Instead, she thinks the number of outlets that sell tobacco products should be reduced.

As of July 1, NSW and Victoria introduced tobacco licensing laws, giving businesses until October and February respectively to apply for a licence to sell cigarettes. Experts say more needs to done to tackle the growing trade.


Australian politicians are as short-sighted and clueless as European politicians! Can’t they see the damage they are doing to people’s health by encouraging them to smoke black market cigarettes and tobacco because of cost? The quality of the tobacco on the black market is unregulated and the long-term health consequences of smoking it is likely to be be far worse than if they were able to afford to smoke government-regulated, quality-controlled tobacco and cigarettes manufactured at home. Moreover, the more expensive governments make tobacco products, the more likely people are to find alternative sources of enjoyment and pleasure. And that is precisely what is happening nowadays here in the West.

The best way to bring down smoking rates without causing resentment and distortions in the market is through information of the health dangers associated with smoking tobacco, not through extortionate taxation and government coercion. In any case, people do far worse things than enjoy the smoking of a cigarette.

We don’t live in utopia; rather, we live in the real world. And in the real world, people do all sorts of things, and consume all sorts of products, which are not conducive to perfect health. As Margaret Thatcher said: “The desire to achieve grand utopian plans often poses a grave threat to freedom.” – © Mark Alexander