Illegal Tobacco Stores

Mr BATTY (Bragg) (14:55): My question is to the Minister for Consumer and Business Affairs. How many illegal tobacco shops that have been issued a short-term closure order have now reopened? With your leave, sir, and that of the house, I will explain.

Leave granted.

Mr BATTY: Last month the government celebrated shutting down 50 illegal tobacco stores, despite many of those stores having already simply reopened after a few weeks causing great frustration to local communities.

The Hon. A. MICHAELS (Enfield—Minister for Small and Family Business, Minister for Consumer and Business Affairs, Minister for Arts) (14:55): I thank the member for the question. We are actually now up to 78 short-term closure orders since that legislation came into effect in the first week of June. CBS has been doing a lot of work—in fact, nation-leading work. We have been really on the frontline of this, right around the country with eyes on us.

We have had an A-plus ranking from the Australian Council for Smoking and Health. We have had federal visitors here looking at what we have been doing, trying to get some national harmonisation in terms of compliance and enforcement, looking at the models, including our closure orders. We obviously had the 72-hour closure orders which were nation-leading back then in December. We since went to 28-day closure orders, and CBS has been really active, working really closely with SAPOL and Operation Eclipse on those closure orders. Like I said, we are up to 78 at the moment. I think I might have issued one just before question time began.

We have also had our first prosecution going through the courts. There was an early guilty plea in that matter and the court obviously appropriately penalised that person. We have got a second one through the courts at the moment. We have two long-term closure orders of 12 months that have gone through the Magistrates Court and we have a number in the courts at the moment.

Where we see that sort of activity, we very much encourage people to report that through to CBS. They are very active. The team on the Illicit Tobacco Taskforce are very active in not only metropolitan Adelaide but right around the regions as well, so please keep reporting those through and the good work of CBS and SAPOL will continue on the illicit tobacco.

Mr BATTY: I have a supplementary.

The SPEAKER: We will see if it's a supplementary.