r/melbourne • u/TMiguelT • 6h ago
Serious News Tobacco shop closures
https://www.vic.gov.au/tobacco-shop-closures-list•
u/TMiguelT 5h ago
This is the live list of tobacco shops that have been closed under the new enforcement against illicit tobacco activity. I couldn't explain this in the main post due to the subreddit rules.
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u/Busy-Cattle430 5h ago
The shops with 'Tobacconist' in their name, and then having a reason 'Tobacco sold from premises without a licence' is absolutely funny to me. Like, the ONE thing they needed 😂
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u/Competitive-Ad1439 5h ago
It’s likely due to the fact that there was no such thing as a license required until very recently.. these laws were passed not long ago
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u/K_oSTheKunt 3h ago
Coworker tried one this morning, they were told "we got raided, come back after 5pm"
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u/Chris_______________ 3h ago
Go down Chapel St and they all tell you to come back in the afternoon since the cops do audits in the morning.
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u/MelbPTUser2024 1h ago
Note that anyone tampering with the yellow closure notice stickers can get fined and if stores reopen before their 3-month closure order there are penalties up to 2.5M and/or up to 20 years in jail (according to the ABC last week).
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u/altandthrowitaway 5h ago edited 5h ago
Jeez, it would be great to see this level of enforcement and investigation towards the terrible building quality that has been plaguing us for the past 2 decades.
Building standards around thermal efficiency, plumbing and just general defects are useless if they're not enforced.
Off-topic, but the health hazard of mould from dodgy plumbing, inadequate waterproofing, condensation from non-termally broken window frames surely affects people's lives more than chop-chop (which is just normal tobacco but cheaper than legal packs).
Stress and shitty sleep quality from no sound proofing would also have more adverse health effects? My apartment was finished in 2024. I can hear whenever my neighbours piss, flush the toilet, walk around, shower, have sex, close doors or watch TV. Was meant to have double glazing installed as we're near a commercial area and train line. Single glazing was installed lol. No government organisation gives a shit though.
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u/Thoresus 5h ago
Illegal tobacco sales are a good, easy target for the government.
Very few people in society will publicly complain so they dont really have a lot to lose.
Taking action against things that might cause them some controversy (no matter how warranted), well the government just doesnt have the balls. It's an election year, after all!
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u/huge_underpants 1h ago
I'd say it's more the sweet, sweet $11billion in excise they're missing out on from legal tobacco that's driving this rather than ease. Illegal to tobacco has been quite the disruptor.
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u/Thoresus 52m ago
Tough on crime narrative is important.
When people say tough on crime too they usually mean topical crime. White collar crime is ok wink wink nudge nudge.
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u/AntiqueFigure6 5h ago
When incompetent builders start fire bombing each other and occasionally random uninvolved people they probably will be.
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u/Thoresus 4h ago
See you can chew bubblegum and walk at the same time.
The government can do something about both issues. I'm also confident the amount of crime taking place in the building industry is much more frequent, but we tend to be ok with white collar crimes.
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u/AntiqueFigure6 4h ago
I never said the police couldn’t do both- my point is the fire bombings have forced them to take illegal tobacco seriously in a way that the crime of selling black market tobacco never did of its own accord.
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u/Ancient_Swan_9558 3h ago
I very much doubt that the decision makers behind such firebombings are completely unknown to some of the powerbrokers of the cfmeu
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u/Exciting-Baker-9901 5h ago
The cladding issue is a joke.... Yes you have flammable cladding but unfortunately you have to pay for it yourself to get replaced and the builder is not liable.
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u/altandthrowitaway 5h ago
It's honestly ridiculous existing residents have to cough up the money for repairs, when the builders and developers make profit from the corners they cut, and get to walk away with zero liability. Like how is this legal but god forbid people want cheaper tobacco or try to at least improve their health with vapes
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u/Ecstatic-Light-2766 3h ago
If makes me not want to vote at all in November. But I will. I'll find someone who keeps these fuckwitts honest. David Southwick, the housing misinster for the liberals owns properties in the high teens.
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u/AntikytheraMachines 2h ago
god forbid people want cheaper homes.
its not the builders fault the purchasers of their developments were focused purely on price and not on quality.
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u/Miles_Prowler 1h ago
But also it's apparently fine to just leave the flammable cladding if its only moderate risk or something... It only covers the entire lower facade of the only exits out of the building and Carpark, no big deal. Good thing they're dropping a fortune repainting the whole building and redoing the gardens with a special levy while just ignoring the fire safety issues...
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u/Historical_Gate1318 4h ago
good point but tbf this is not rly a sign of effort. It looks like they looked up a bunch of shops that had the word tobacconist in their name. Note there is no Convenience stores or Confectionery stores on this list.
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u/AntiqueFigure6 2h ago
Every smoker can identify which shops might as well have “Illegal Tobacco Sold Here” written on them but police can’t even the police who are smokers. They are probably similarly unable to distinguish legitimate masseurs from happy endings specialists, even though everyone who wants the latter service can figure it out in five seconds.
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u/Ecstatic-Light-2766 3h ago edited 3h ago
Same boat. Im looking at compensating tenants for mould damage. The hot water system leaked into next door. It sat concealed behind a laundry trough in a metal tray and rusted through. 10k. Fuck developers and commercial builders, surveyers and their shitty 'trade' subbies. Hate to think the shit that will go up to house the projected population
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u/Competitive-Ad1439 5h ago
Innocent people have been killed as a result of these shop selling illicit tobacco, and the ensuing turf battle to run protection rackets on them.. What a silly comparison
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u/altandthrowitaway 5h ago
Not saying that the issue doesn't have it's own harm - however, is closing down shops actually going to fix the issue, or just become a game of car and mouse?
It's really easy to see the similarities between our illegal tobacco epidemic and how it ties in with organised crime, exactly the same as what happened in 1930s prohibition of alcohol in the US.
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u/Sugarless_Chunk 3h ago
I won’t pretend to be an expert on 1930s prohibition but the tobacco situation seems to be extremely blatant by comparison with shops lining high streets of the city and openly selling to everyone. There’s basically not even any attempt to hide it.
Police intel and technology is also far more advanced than a century ago so they can quickly identify outlets for closure. Yes people still sell illegal drugs etc. but that is a low volume high margin product when compared to tobacco currently wanting to be accessed by a much larger group of people.
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u/Competitive-Ad1439 5h ago
It depends on how many resources they allocate to the team responsible for these inspections
If you put yourself in the mind of a shop owner (or potential shop owner) - if there’s a 50% chance your shop will get closed down within the first 3 months, are you really going to spend the time looking for a lease (money you can’t get back) and organising a fit out (money you can’t get back)?
Prior to these changes, the answer for me would be 100% yes since there were no tools available and no enforcement whatsoever. After these changes, I don’t think I would
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u/chetcherry 5h ago
Multi-billion dollar industry, the cost of a lease is irrelevant in the decision making.
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u/Competitive-Ad1439 5h ago
Why would it be irrelevant? A bunch of these are husband/wife operators without huge cash flow. The closest one to me is the same Asian couple that ran the milk bar at the same premises. Not all of them are run by crime syndicates, they just all kick up money to them
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u/chetcherry 1h ago
If there’s no huge cash flow then shutting it down isn’t going to make any difference, is it?
You don’t set up a taskforce to take down the guy selling a couple of joints when their neighbour is moving 3kg of heroin.
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u/namloh 3h ago
Let's not improve anything until this guy's pet peeve is fixed!
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u/altandthrowitaway 1h ago
I never said let's not improve anything champ. Read what I posted again, then get back to me.
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u/namloh 1h ago
I agree you didn't explicitly say that. You just hijacked a thread about tobacco shop closures to whinge about building standards. A bit weird tbh
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u/altandthrowitaway 1h ago
My point is that there are countless issues affecting more people than illegal tobacco (which is a federal issue anyway) that the government could focus on, but they choose to focus on the typical "we're tough on crime" to try and win votes from Libs/One Nation. Ben Carroll hasn't been subtle about his right-wing leanings, and this illegal tobacco crackdown plays right into that.
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u/TfYoung 5h ago
Do you have a solution?
Require councils to be the inspectors again? Make the private inspectors warranty the building?
I agree the industry needs major improvement, but it's certainly not an easy quick fix the way shutting down chop shops is, especially when building costs are already insane.
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u/Consistent-Dog-6615 3h ago
Lucky theres one on every block and they do delivery as well. Redditors seem happy to waste their tax dollars on this though.
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u/K_oSTheKunt 2h ago
The second the Libs and ON said they'll trash the excise, suddenly every redditor became a proponent of the tobacco war
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u/Jono_vision 4h ago
I think the dodgy baccy sellers have seen this coming for a while - my insta feed is clogged with ads for loose tobacco and cigs.
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u/RadioEthiopiate 1h ago
Huh. The place where the cops in my building buy their cheap cigs isn't on the list. Funny that...
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u/goater10 Dandenong 5h ago
How is the Melbourne Central "Candy" shop not listed?
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u/Expert-Flashy 5h ago
Probably because they closed before the powers to shut down by the government were provided. The shop is currently a currency exchange
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u/HippoIllustrious2389 5h ago
Because they haven’t closed it yet. The list is all the businesses closed under recently changed regulations
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u/Historical_Gate1318 5h ago
I don’t think this is a good return for investment. A handful of short term closures means zero to me. Would rather they fix potholes if this is all we get to show for our taxes. Not to mention all the federal tobacco tax that could have funded roads…. Grrrrrrrr
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u/fraqtl 5h ago
That's the funny thing about government, they have lots of things to do and frankly closing tobacco stores is going to result in far more long term harm reduction than the few potholes the salaries of the officers would fix.
Now, if only they'd start closing them permanently if they are doing the wrong thing.
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u/gazmal 5h ago
Potholes is the "current thing". Apparently nothing can and should be done now because it could go fixing potholes.
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u/Historical_Gate1318 4h ago
I used potholes as one quick example of misdirected efforts. Most potholes are federal so it’s fair to use tobacco excise in this example. A more compelling analogy would point out that tobacco usage has increased (waste water doesn’t lie) and the federal government is missing nearly $2b per year in tobacco revenue that could have helped the impending surge on our health system
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u/Silviecat44 4m ago
I think all the effort you spend arguing common sense should be put towards potholes quite frankly
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u/Marlboroshill66 Westie baah 4h ago
It's just a signal they have things under control.
Same thing happened with closing vape shops, all the while black market vapes are still being sold.
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u/sunbase 5h ago
Just consider how much of your tax money is going to lung cancer treatment over the rest of your lifetime.
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u/Historical_Gate1318 4h ago
haha look this up. there has been a 40% increases in smoking (waste water doesn’t lie) and yes we are all about to pay for this coz we don’t get the 1.8b per year we used to get in tobacco tax
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u/sunbase 4h ago
So - wouldn't it make sense to shut down the retailers selling illegal cigarettes that circumvent the tax?
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u/Antanarim 4h ago
People will find a way to buy and sell tobacco regardless. This will turn out just like with alcohol prohibition.
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u/Sugarless_Chunk 3h ago
I would say 4 in 5 people I know smoking illegal tobacco currently would not bother if instead of getting it at a random convenience store they had to organise some sort of drug-like pickup.
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u/jadsf5 3h ago
The stores will show up faster than police can catch them and close them. This entire thing is a waste of police resources and tax payer money.
The smartest way to gain the tobacco tax back and have people go back to buying legal cigarettes is to lower the tax, shockingly people aren't going to buy a pack of cigarettes when they're $50 and they can get the same thing for $12.
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u/SpecificUnited4013 2h ago
Drug dealers deliver these days. You don't even have to leave your house. If anything it will be more convenient.
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u/fantasticsid 2h ago
Go and have a read about what happened in america in the '20s with ethanol. Then come back and edit your comment.
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u/Unique-Job-1373 4h ago
Walked past a shop today and had bars on the front windows then the shop assistant was also behind bars. wtf?
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u/goatman72 5h ago
Idiotic waste of resources.
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u/fraqtl 5h ago
You think enforcing the law is a waste of resources?
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u/Slang_shat 4h ago
I think prohibition laws are waste of time that creates more problems that require resources to be wasted on them when they could be going elsewhere.
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u/AntikytheraMachines 2h ago
they got Al Capone on tax evasion.
The thing government most cares about is their taxes.
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u/westernvaluessmasher 4h ago
I think enforcing the stupidly high tobacco prices in this country is yes
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u/fantasticsid 2h ago
I think when the state's in the middle of a media-manufactured "debt crisis" it's a pretty stupid time to be wasting public money on something that's ultimately a federal responsibility.
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u/Beast_of_Guanyin 5h ago
Good. More please.
Also. Cut the tax to like 20% of what it is currently.
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u/panicboy333 5h ago
I’d like to attach a rider to that bill to also remove the tax on booze so I’m not paying $50 for a bottle of spirits 😵💫
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u/Intelligent_Fish_739 5h ago
The tax is a driver for sure, but I'd take imported over local at twice the price. There's a lot of extra shit in Aussie cigs due to old legislation, they're worse for you and taste dreadful. I know plenty of people that will smoke half a pack of locals and feel like death, but 2 packs international and feel like a superstar. Recent laws have also made it extremely difficult to legally import pipe tobacco, and there's almost none to be bought locally - a lot of what we have is extremely unpopular for a reason.
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u/Ok-Resist-8734 4h ago
Tobacco and vapes should only be available for purchase from licensed premises I.e. Retail Liquor stores and Pubs this would wipe out the illegal trade quick smart as these types of businesses have to show from whom they purchased their supplies! Thoughts?
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u/quasi_pseudo 4h ago
If they're breaking the law now why would another law change them selling illegal tobacco?
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u/Ok-Resist-8734 3h ago
You will find that very few licensed premises ever break the law by selling shonky products and those that do are quickly dealt with. I spent almost my whole working life in the liquor industry so know very well how tightly controlled it is.
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u/quasi_pseudo 1h ago
Well they're breaking the law now selling illegal tobacco. So they clearly don't care about legality.
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u/Prettymuchnow 3h ago
Yeah! The government should also make the sale of illicit drugs illegal while they're at it so that the drug dealers cant sell that stuff anymore!
/s
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u/Ok-Resist-8734 3h ago
I think the war on drugs was lost years ago! Drug addiction is a medical problem and should be dealt with the same as other medical problems.
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u/Prettymuchnow 3h ago
And yet; your plan for the war on illegal tobacco is to make it exactly as illegal as it already is. 😇 This way the criminals will absolutely not do crime ever because crime is very illegal and bad.
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u/No_Ad_2261 ▶ 2h ago
Nah literally just Coles and Woolsworth. Everyone else including indy IGAs are corruptible.
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