CAPHRA Calls for Regulatory Reform to End Australia's Illegal Tobacco Crisis

WELLINGTON, New Zealand, Jan. 18, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Coalition of Asia Pacific Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates (CAPHRA) has lodged a formal submission to the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs References Committee inquiry into the illegal tobacco crisis in Australia, warning that current policy settings are driving the growth of an increasingly organised and violent illicit market.

CAPHRA, a coalition of 11 consumer advocacy organisations across the Asia Pacific, argues that Australia's illicit tobacco and nicotine market has expanded rapidly and openly in recent years, tracking closely with policy decisions that restricted legal access to regulated lower risk alternatives while demand for nicotine remained steady.

In its submission, CAPHRA states that adults have not stopped seeking nicotine. Instead, policy has shifted consumers toward unregulated supply, exposing them to products with unknown ingredients and inconsistent quality, while undermining public health goals and government revenue through lost excise and rising enforcement costs.

CAPHRA also warns that enforcement alone cannot resolve a market dominated by organised criminal networks. The submission describes a repeating cycle in which retail outlets are shut down and reappear within weeks through rebranding, relocation, or shifting to delivery-only models, concluding that the root cause is policy design rather than enforcement capacity.

“The primary problem is not enforcement capacity. It is policy design,” CAPHRA said in its submission, arguing that prohibition of high-demand consumer products creates a profitable, adaptable criminal market that consistently outpaces regulators.

CAPHRA's submission highlights severe community impacts, including the displacement of legitimate adult-only vaping retailers, the rise of illegal shops operating openly, and increasing reports of violence, intimidation, and arson linked to market control. It also warns that youth exposure has worsened, not improved, because uncontrolled supply has become more visible and accessible.

The coalition is urging the Committee to consider a shift from criminal control to regulated control through legalisation and sensible regulation of vaping products as a harm reduction tool, restricted to responsible adult-only retail environments, supported by clear product standards and robust age enforcement.

CAPHRA points to international experience showing that criminal markets retreat when legal, regulated alternatives replace prohibition profits. The submission references New Zealand and the Philippines as comparators where regulated vaping markets have coincided with significant reductions in smoking prevalence, while noting that prohibition settings such as India and Thailand demonstrate predictable outcomes of uncontrolled underground supply.

Media contact
N. E. Loucas
Executive Coordinator, CAPHRA
neloucas@caphraorg.net
www.caphraorg.net