Second Reading
Danny O’BRIEN (Gippsland South) (15:53): Acting Speaker O’Keeffe, lovely to see you in the chair to hear me speak on the Tobacco Amendment (Tobacco Retailer and Wholesaler Licensing Scheme) Bill 2024 and to immediately refute anyone who has not sat on the Public Accounts and Estimates Committee for 10 years on what goes on at PAEC.
Anthony Carbines interjected.
Danny O’BRIEN: I am due for long service leave. I might have to talk to my union about that, Minister. The member suggested that those opposite her did not turn up to the PAEC hearings. I was there listening to police, I was there listening to VicHealth and various others. I did not manage to get to Shepparton, sadly – because it is a beautiful city, isn’t it, Acting Speaker O’Keeffe – because that and one of the other hearings were in fact scheduled at the same time as cabinet and shadow cabinet meetings. So there are reasons that we cannot always get to all the things that we want to, but as the Minister for Police at the table knows very well, when it comes to PAEC I am like the cockroach that will not go away and continues to turn up, as I will be doing again for five days next week. I will be doing it again for five days next week, and the minister will be happy that it is not him at the table this time, but I will be terrorising his department and his chief commissioner and various others, and no doubt on this issue as well, because whilst we are certainly not opposing this legislation, having moved our own legislation last week waiting for the delay, this legislation has been a long, long time coming.
I remember dealing with a constituent who was concerned about the issue of illegal cigarettes and the like and writing to the Minister for Transport Infrastructure now, who I think was the Minister for Consumer Affairs at the time, Minister Pearson, and asking what had happened to the Better Regulation Victoria report, which was done two and a bit years ago now. The government had that report, did not respond to it and did not release it publicly, and it recommended of course at the time that the government introduce a regulation scheme. It is a bit rich for the government this week to say, ‘This is really urgent; we’ve got to introduce it tomorrow.’ Yes, we agree it is really urgent, but the government has had more than two years to know about this. The firebombings started in March 2023. The Premier announced in March this year that they would do something, yet here we are with two weeks to go at the end of the year and finally the government is doing something and saying to the Parliament, ‘We’re not going to give you time to read the 138 pages in this bill; we want to rush it through this week.’ I think the opposition, far from being the blockers that the government likes to claim we are, are being extremely reasonable in making sure that this legislation goes through this week to ensure that the Victorian community is protected, because the government has not been doing its job. It has taken so long to respond to this issue, and for it now to come forward and say, ‘Don’t worry about it; trust us. Here are 138 pages and some of the detail we’ll work out later,’ is symptomatic of this chaotic government, to be honest.
Nonetheless, it is a step in the right direction, and from what opportunity we have had to read the bill and also from the bill briefing it does broadly touch on the issues that we think need to be touched on and need to be introduced. The licensing scheme is obviously the key thing, because it then gives the authorities, in particular the proposed new agency or regulator within the Department of Justice and Community Safety and the police, the ability to actually regulate and therefore to shut down those who are doing this illegally. The addendum to that, and this is where the minister at the table and his crew come in, is that when there is in fact actual criminal activity – illegal cigarettes importation, organised crime involvement, and we know that obviously there is organised crime involvement in this – then that is where the police will come in as well.
But we need to get this happening, and that is why I support the member for Ovens Valley’s reasoned amendment, because it is a reasonable amendment. It is a reasonable amendment to say, ‘You can’t rush this in in two weeks and then say you’re actually not going to have it fully operational until 1 July 2026.’ One does wonder what it is within the bureaucracy or within the cabinet or within the government, whatever the issue is, that it is going to take that long to get this whole thing up and going. And to answer the member for Monbulk’s question, our reasoned amendment does not delay this in any way, shape or form if the government sticks to 1 July 2026, because we would have the government work it out over the next week, if it chose to, in a quick consultation with the community and the stakeholders, and would actually be able to ensure that they can bring a date forward that is workable. If not, at the very worst we would bring it back in the first week of the sitting next year in February. It is not going to change when this is going to be introduced on the current arrangements. The member for Ovens Valley raised that issue very well.
One of the other two issues that I was concerned about is that we do not yet know what the cost of registration will be. We need to ensure that the legitimate businesses – whether they are mum-and-dad corner stores, whether they are smaller businesses, whether they are the big supermarket chains or whether they are pubs and clubs that are selling cigarettes – are not adversely affected by this as well. This needs to be particularly focused on the criminal element, and likewise that is why we need to know what the cost of registration is going to be. Is it 500 bucks? Is it 5000 bucks? I am concerned about that. I am also concerned, as the member for Ovens Valley highlighted, that we do not yet even know things like what the definition is of a commercial quantity of illicit tobacco for the very big fines that are being introduced in this. I think it again highlights the chaotic nature of what this government is doing in not knowing the answer to all these questions, and there are questions with that. We look at the moment at cost recovery. We would expect that that is going to be the case here, but we are seeing way over cost recovery with the government on probate fees. But I am looking at the clock. I am very happy to support this legislation. I will support the member for Ovens Valley’s reasoned amendment, and I hope that it will be successful.
Business interrupted under sessional orders.