Stores selling illegal cigarettes continue to reopen despite repeated shutdowns

Convenience stores selling illegal cigarettes continue to reopen in Adelaide's CBD In short: Last month, a dozen convenience stores in the Adelaide CBD were ordered to close, but some continue to reopen when orders expire after 28 days. A former border force officer says other deterrents, including jail time, need to be considered. What's next? While other politicians have called for the tobacco tax to be cut, the SA premier says he was not convinced it would be the right move. Convenience stores in Adelaide's CBD that have been repeatedly shut down for illegal cigarette sales are continuing to reopen, prompting calls for increased law enforcement powers. Last month, a dozen convenience stores were closed after a week-long blitz of raids were carried out across the CBD. Under current laws, the closure orders last for 28 days. In response to the ABC's questions, the South Australian government confirmed that one of those stores has now been closed for the eighth time. Current SA laws include harsh financial penalties for selling commercial quantities of illegal cigarettes, with fines in the millions. However, the legislation does not enable authorities to close shopfronts indefinitely. A closure that is longer than 28 days needs a court-ordered shutdown, which cannot exceed 12 months. Illicit tobacco trade adviser and former Australian Border Force officer, Rohan Pike, said other deterrents need to be considered, including jail time. "Clearly the laws that have been brought in in Adelaide are not sufficient to deter criminals from re-entering the market," Mr Pike said. "People just need to go to jail for this sort of crime, which we seem to not have the stomach for at the moment." Premier Peter Malinauskas said resources have been greatly increased to crack down on the illicit tobacco industry. "I am very concerned about the rise of illegal tobacco, and that is why we have doubled our efforts in being out there policing it, increasing penalties, investing a lot of money in resources to do that policing work," he said. "We're getting results, you've seen places close down, you've seen tobacco being seized in significant quantities and volumes." In a statement, Consumer and Business Affairs Minister Michael Brown, said closing stores was "an important tool in disrupting" the illicit tobacco trade. "The illicit tobacco team ... is continuously out, acting on information, raiding stores and shutting them down," the minister said. "Once a store is on our radar, we continue to inspect them and will shut them down again if evidence of continuing to sell illicit tobacco is found, while investigations remain underway, including for possible prosecution." Landlords should end leases: Minister The state government has given landlords the power to terminate leases after a closure order has been issued under tobacco laws. Mr Brown said landlords could face hefty fines if they failed to do so. "Landlords should not be leasing premises to illicit tobacco stores whether it be a new lease or continuing an existing one," he said. "Under reforms made by the Malinauskas Government, it is an offence to knowingly allow a premise to be used to sell illicit tobacco and vapes. "Whenever I issue a closure order, I write to the landlord to inform them illicit tobacco was being sold on the premises so they can take action and there is no excuse for failing to do so." Tobacco taxes 'driving' illicit market Mr Pike said the excise rate was "the main driver" of the illicit market. "The legal product is at least four times to six times higher than what smokers can get on the illicit market," he said. "We need a three-fold response, one is in the excise rate to cut it back to where enforcement has a chance to be effective, so we need to balance that market imbalance. "Secondly, the enforcement needs to be far more coordinated across Australia, currently every state is doing their own thing, it seems like we're really experimenting with the law enforcement and the penalties. "And thirdly, all the countries that have the lowest smoking rates in the world are those that have embraced safer nicotine products and Australia has banned those." Politicians, including One Nation leader Pauline Hanson, are calling for the tobacco tax to be slashed, but Mr Malinauskas said he was not convinced it would be the right move. "I'm nervous about a rush to reduce the price of cigarettes. We have been able, as a society, as a country, to dramatically reduce the volume of cigarettes that have been smoked," he said. [Image text:] STORE CLOSED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE TOBACCO AND E-CIGARETTE PRODUCTS ACT1997 Government of South Australia Consumer and Business Services