Organised crime thriving in the face of the tobacco excise

Rohan Pike Consulting Managing Director Rohan Pike argues Australia’s tobacco excise has driven the illicit cigarette and vape trade, warning organised crime now controls the overwhelming majority of the black market.

“Any reasonable person who’s taken a look at this problem and analysed it from top to bottom would come to the same conclusion that the excise has driven this problem and that it needs to be addressed,’ Mr Pike told Sky News host Caleb Bond.

“80 per cent of the cigarette market and over 95 per cent of the vape market, so it’s already controlled by organised crime.

“The problem is the policy itself; those other consequences are simply symptoms of the problem.”