One Nation’s tobacco excise cut a ‘premise to boost’ corporate profits: Greens

One Nation’s proposal to cut the tobacco excise by 75 per cent is playing into the hands of corporations trying to “boost their profits”, Greens leader Larissa Waters says.

Under the party’s proposed changes – which includes the excise cut and a three-year pause on indexation – a $46.50 legal pack would fall to about $21 or $22 to make legal tobacco “competitive” with illegal products.

Pauline Hanson cited evidence tendered to a Senate inquiry that placed the price of illicit packs at $12 to $25 as part of her justification.

“The cut will be matched with stronger border enforcement, faster shop closures, tougher penalties for traffickers and attack organisers, and aggressive seizure of criminal assets and unexplained wealth,” Senator Hanson said in a statement.

“We blame a government that kept doubling down while organised crime built a multibillion-dollar market.

“This is not about encouraging smoking. It is about restoring the rule of law and breaking the black market.”

But Senator Waters accused her One Nation counterpart of trying to “dress up fighting crime” as a premise to “boost the profits of big tobacco”.

“I don’t have a lot of sympathy for big tobacco, and I don’t think they should be influencing our politics,” she said. “Big corporations tend to have an inordinate influence on our politics, and I reckon people are getting shafted here.”

The 75 per cent excise cut is an increase from Senator Hanson’s prior announcement at the National Press Club in June, where she said One Nation would cut Australia’s tobacco excise by 50 per cent and freeze further indexation for two years.

This inconsistency was criticised by Nationals leader Matt Canavan, who said he didn’t “really know what to make of it”.

“You’ve got to get these sort of things right. What we are doing is going through a very considered process as a Senate inquiry right now into this issue, I know we’re conducting a lot of costings and consultation with people about what should be done,” he told News24.

Senator Canavan conceded neither the Coalition nor One Nation could make the changes needed to “kill the black market” overnight.

“What we need is the government to act right now, but we’ll be taking a policy to the next election that (is) considered … we won’t flip-flop on our positions in just a matter of months.”

The Legal and Constitutional Affairs References Committee is set to hand down its report into the illegal tobacco crisis on August 28.