SA’s top cop suggests state government outlaw purchase of cheap tobacco

South Australia’s Police Commissioner says the state government should consider making it an offence to buy cheap black-market tobacco.

There have been 19 arson attacks across Adelaide since July, which police have linked to organised crime syndicates in the black-market trade of illegal tobacco.

Police have seized millions of dollars of contraband and stopped three trucks carrying illicit products as part of Operation Eclipse, while $1.5 million of illegal products has been seized in regional raids.

SA Police Commissioner Grant Stevens said he would like to see the buying of cheap tobacco made an offence in SA.

“That’s one of the things that should be considered,” he told ABC Radio Adelaide.

“Obviously there is a health dimension here but we’re more focused on making sure we can stamp out the opportunities for organised crime.”

He said police had provided suggestions to Premier Peter Malinauskas to consider.

“There is definitely an interest in getting this done quickly,” he said.

“I’ve come up with suggestions with my team for the government to consider.

“But I want that to be properly considered and make sure there are no unintentional consequences from that.”

Changes to be considered

Health Minister Chris Picton said that legislation sits with him.

“But I’ll obviously be working with the police minister and the consumer affairs minister as well, in considering if there’s additional ways we can strengthen that legislation to help tackle what’s a significant organised crime influence we’re seeing at the moment,” he said.

He said the number of parliamentary sitting weeks left for the year meant a legislation change could potentially occur “quite quickly”.

“We are still working with police in terms of what additional steps that we can take,” he said.

“We’ve already made some pretty substantial law reform changes, upping those penalties substantially, but also giving the power to shut down premises as well.

“We’ll need to sit down with police, go through their suggestions and then obviously take that through the parliamentary process.”

Police Minister Dan Cregan said tobacco addiction was treated as a health issue in SA, and that there were no plans to ramp up enforcement against individuals with addiction.

But he said he was determined to ensure the state was a hostile environment for organised crime.

“Whenever there is a piece of legislation that involves police and other state agencies, there’s a consultation process. We always take the recommendations from police very, very seriously,” he said.

“If there are additional matters that need to be addressed going forward, then we’ll update legislation or take other regulatory steps.

“There’s been a substantial amount of police intelligence that’s been used to shape the operations that have been underway, that’ll continue to be the case.”

SA Consumer Affairs Minister Andrea Michaels said more than $5 million worth of products had been seized across the state since July, including $1.5 million worth of illicit tobacco products in regional areas.

“These efforts have made a serious dent in this battle against organised crime, particularly those trying to infiltrate South Australia,” she said.

“We are very serious about tackling this issue.”