Liberal MP Mary Aldred says the rise of illicit tobacco is a “national crisis long in the making”.
“We’ve had a 282 per cent increase in the tobacco excise regime since the Rudd government in 2012,” Ms Aldred told News24 host Jaimee Rogers.
“That has been an astronomical increase, and it has flipped the cigarette market in Australia from a well-regulated legal market to being controlled by the illegal market.
“The billions that are being lost in that tobacco excise are going to fund bikie gangs, criminals, and, in one case, a terrorist act with a fire bombing of a Melbourne synagogue.
“So it’s a crisis, and the Coalition are prepared to act on this.”
