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One Nation vows to bring back cheaper legal cigarettes
One Nation says the cut would lower legal cigarette prices by about $20 and pair tax relief with tougher enforcement against traffickers.
- On Tuesday, One Nation leader Pauline Hanson announced her party would cut tobacco excise by 75 per cent and pause indexation for three years to undercut the illicit market.
- High taxes pushed smokers to the black market, causing excise revenue to collapse from $12.6 billion in 2022-23 to an estimated $3.6 billion this financial year, Hanson said.
- ABS estimates show 80 per cent of tobacco consumed in 2025 was illicit, while Victoria Police reported more than 200 arson attacks related to Melbourne's 'tobacco wars' in the past three years.
- The Australian Medical Association warned the plan is 'dangerous, misguided and simplistic,' while Assistant Customs Minister Julian Hill defended the government's more than $350 million crackdown on illicit retailers.
- Nationals leader Matt Canavan called the proposal a 'thought bubble,' though One Nation insists the measure is necessary to restore the rule of law and break organized crime's grip.
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One Nation Vows to Shave About $20 Off Cigarette Packs in Anti-Black Market Bid
One Nation has pledged to target organised crime by slashing the tobacco excise by 75 percent and pause indexation for three years in a bid to make the black market less lucrative. Australian governments tax tobacco products to generate revenue and also discourage purchasing—the logic being that higher cigarette costs will chase away buyers. Authorities go a step further and index the tobacco excise rate to the average weekly earnings of Austral…
·New York, United States
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Coverage Details
Total News Sources14
Leaning Left3Leaning Right4Center3Last UpdatedBias Distribution40% Right
Bias Distribution
- 40% of the sources lean Right
40% Right
L 30%
C 30%
R 40%
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