The $7 billion crime industry. The excise rate that built it. The health department that knew — and kept raising the tax anyway. The global protocol to combat illicit tobacco that 100 countries signed, and Australia quietly ignored. The enforcement agency with no enforcement powers, led by someone with no law enforcement experience. The smoking rate data that nobody's measuring — or maybe nobody wants to see.
The thing is — some of this is documented. Australia's illicit tobacco market, once a niche customs headache, now accounts for an estimated 75–80% of all tobacco consumed in the country. Firebombings have terrorised suburban shopfronts. Legitimate small businesses can't get insurance.
So how did a public health policy designed to stop people smoking end up creating the largest organised crime industry this country has ever seen?
In this episode, Richard Baker and Dr. Nick Coatsworth are joined by Rohan Pike — former AFP, foreign bribery investigator, and the man who's been shouting about illicit tobacco since before most people knew it was a problem — to ask how we got here, who knew what and when, and why the response still doesn't match the scale of the crisis.
Some of this is policy failure. Some of it looks like wilful blindness. And almost none of it is as complicated as the people responsible want you to believe.
This episode is sponsored by Blackmores. More health, more life.
Join Rich Baker and Dr Nick Coatsworth as they suss it all out.
Contact the show at conspiracycabal@outlook.com.
","author_name":"Southern Ocean Media"}