Charlton Hart: It’s embarrassing that the tobacco black market is booming in the Health Minister’s backyard

If there were an Olympic sport for “Tough Talk with Zero Follow-Through”, the Cook Government would be standing atop the podium, gold medal around their neck, probably lighting a victory cigar they bought for $20 from a deli in Balga. Just when we thought listening to Roger Cook channel his inner action hero, vowing to “crush and destroy” the illicit tobacco trade, couldn’t get anymore embarrassing - we now see the consequences of his government’s inaction. The black market has become so normalised it has moved from the shadowy back alleys into our bottle shops. A Cellarbrations store, part of the massive Metcash network, was caught flogging packs of 20 cigarettes for $25. Metcash, to their credit, is investigating. But the fact that illicit tobacco is sitting on the shelves of a major liquor franchise proves that the criminals aren’t afraid. Why would they be? There’s no guarantee when the government’s “tough” new legislation to shut down shops will be ready to put before parliament, and the Health Department is doing a pretty pathetic job at enforcement. When The West Australian approached health authorities about our cigarette purchases from the bottle shop and neighbouring Mini Mart, compliance staff and WA Police attended the Cellarbrations, and coincidentally there were no offences identified. Presumably, because the employees aren’t complete idiots and swiftly disposed of the remaining products once confronted by our publication. It gets worse. Health authorities did have some luck at the Mini Mart and confiscated illicit tobacco products. It’s amazing what you find when you go looking. But, the pièce de résistance of incompetence is found in Balga, smack bang in Health Minister Meredith Hammat’s own electorate. While the Minister defends her department’s “hard work”, shops at the Princess Road shopping complex are selling illegal cigarettes with the brazen confidence of a suburban street lemonade stand. Balga Gifts doesn’t even bother hiding them under the counter, and the Super Deli Lunch Bar is moving packets of ciggies as fast as they can make sandwiches. This isn’t a covert operation. It is a retail boom, happening in broad daylight, under the nose of the very Minister responsible for stopping it. Health Director-General Dr. Shirley Bowen recently claimed that enforcement is “complex” and that people simply don’t understand why they can’t just seize products every fortnight. She seemed genuinely stumped by the suggestion that her inspectors should just go back and do their jobs. Let’s simplify it for the Director-General and the Premier. At the Balga complex, I watched a Ford Ranger ute pull up and unload boxes of illicit cigarettes in the middle of the morning. I was tempted to follow the vehicle as it left the store, but I’m nearly 30-years-old and still have all of my teeth, why tempt fate, right? Perhaps maybe health compliance officers could: Wait for the Ute, follow it, find the warehouse and seize the stock. It’s just so complex. Perhaps it’s time the Premier’s media spin unit update their banned phrases list to include the line: “My government has a zero tolerance for organised crime, violence or intimidation.” I’d imagine it could sit just underneath the line about our “world class” health system.