Victoria to roll out tobacco licensing scheme by year's end

This is the best summary I could come up with:

Premier Jacinta Allan told Raf Epstein on ABC Mornings that the government was working a new licensing scheme with legislation set to be introduced by the end of 2024.

The Andrews government commissioned the Better Regulation Commissioner Anna Cronin to examine the issue – she handed a report to the state in 2022 which recommended a licensing scheme.

The state has blamed the outbreak of violence on the price of cigarettes and the flood of illegal tobacco coming into Australia.

Former federal police and border force officer Rohan Pike set up the Tobacco Strike Team.

Now a consultant, he says Victoria needs some form of regulation, because at the moment the state was relying on Customs to stop tobacco from entering the country.

"This is an important step to protect Victorians from the scourge of tobacco, and its enormous disease toll,'' he wrote on X.

The original article contains 416 words, the summary contains 145 words. Saved 65%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

7 comments

I thought we already had this?
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Premier Jacinta Allan told Raf Epstein on ABC Mornings that the government was working a new licensing scheme with legislation set to be introduced by the end of 2024.
The Andrews government commissioned the Better Regulation Commissioner Anna Cronin to examine the issue – she handed a report to the state in 2022 which recommended a licensing scheme.
The state has blamed the outbreak of violence on the price of cigarettes and the flood of illegal tobacco coming into Australia.
Former federal police and border force officer Rohan Pike set up the Tobacco Strike Team.
Now a consultant, he says Victoria needs some form of regulation, because at the moment the state was relying on Customs to stop tobacco from entering the country.
"This is an important step to protect Victorians from the scourge of tobacco, and its enormous disease toll,'' he wrote on X.
The original article contains 416 words, the summary contains 145 words. Saved 65%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!
So servos and everything?
- I presume so
Eventually, when cannabis is legalised, the licensing regimes for it and nicotine can be harmonised.
- I reckon alcohol, tobacco, gambling and marijuana should all be treated equally by law. Licensing, taxation, advertising, criminal sanctions - the same for each.
Used to be you just had to have the tobacco warning signs up. You see them stuck above ciggie machines in pubs. We had ours framed.