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As the price of cigarettes has risen in recent years, so too has the black market for cheap illicit tobacco. Rather than spending $40 or more on a pack, some people who wouldn’t otherwise break the law are buying illegal smokes for less than $20.
The price increases encouraged many smokers to quit. But is the excise – which now makes up around 70% of the cost of a pack – still working? Some critics say the excise should be reduced to a level that provides a disincentive for people to smoke, but isn’t so high that it incentivises criminal activity.
But what would making legal tobacco cheaper actually do to smoking rates? We asked 5 experts if reducing the excise could lead to fewer smokers.
Let us know what you think – we publish a selection of your views in the newsletter each day.
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Fron Jackson-Webb
Deputy Editor and Senior Health Editor
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Becky Freeman, University of Sydney; Coral Gartner, The University of Queensland; Fei Gao, University of Sydney; Roger Magnusson, University of Sydney; Ron Borland, Deakin University
Critics of the tobacco excise argue the tax has stopped working to further reduce smoking rates and should be lowered.
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Steve Hatfield-Dodds, Australian National University
A few key questions can help us judge if the federal government’s 2035 targets will flop or fly.
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Michelle Grattan, University of Canberra
Only a few months into her leadership, Sussan Ley is facing an extraordinary insurgency from Liberal frontbenchers.
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Jon Richardson, Australian National University
Territorial concessions used to be common after wars. The formation of the UN after WWII was meant to put an end to this.
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Kate Cantrell, University of Southern Queensland
The first Erin Patterson documentary, Stan’s three-part documentary Revealed: Death Cap Murders, depicts Patterson as a loner who craved community.
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Jonathan L. Zecher, Australian Catholic University
Some have even called Kirk a patron saint of MAGA. Stories of his status as a ‘martyr’ are uniting America’s Christian right.
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Matthew Sharpe, Australian Catholic University
Bullet casings found at the scene of the shooting were inscribed with various messages linked to online gaming and meme subcultures.
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Samuel Cornell, UNSW Sydney; T.J. Thomson, RMIT University
Social media is awash with videos of Charlie Kirk’s assassination, highlighting the failures of platforms to protect users.
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Thomas Corbin, Deakin University; David Boud, Deakin University; Margaret Bearman, Deakin University; Phillip Dawson, Deakin University
New research argues the problem of AI and assessment is way more difficult than media debates have been making out.
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Politics + Society
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Geoff Bertram, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington
Households might win from major electricity sector reform, but there would be powerful and noisy losers. The sums involved will be large, and the politics difficult.
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Michelle Grattan, University of Canberra
Sussan Ley will give her first major economic speech as leader to call for Australians to move “off welfare and into self-reliance”
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Aruna Sathanapally, Grattan Institute; Kate Griffiths, Grattan Institute
The challenge is not job creation, but how to find the workers we need. There’s much the government can do, from childcare to migration.
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Health + Medicine
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Hui Wen Quek, The University of Western Australia; Amy T Page, The University of Western Australia; Christopher Etherton-Beer, The University of Western Australia; Kenneth Lee, The University of Western Australia
Managing multiple medications can be tricky, and comes with risks. Here’s what we can do about it.
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Business + Economy
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Flavio Menezes, The University of Queensland
Moving a home or car battery from Melbourne to Perth can require multiple permits. Australia and New Zealand need smarter standards – or we’ll all pay the price.
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Ehsan Noroozinejad, Western Sydney University
There’s more we can do to better protect our homes – including 1.5 million homes already in high or very high risk areas today.
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Graeme Austin, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington
AI 'learns' by digesting copyright-protected material, with billions at stake. Proper licensing deals offer the best solution for authors, artists and publishers.
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Science + Technology
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Lisa M. Given, RMIT University
New guidance for tech companies outlines how the government expects them to keep young people off their services.
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Books + Ideas
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Maggie Nolan, The University of Queensland
Written in Kelly’s vernacular, this Booker Prize-winning novel is a masterclass in mimicry. But in exploring injustice, there are telling erasures.
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Climate shock
"Perhaps Australia could listen to the Pacific Islanders' recommendations since the impact of climate change on their nations is even greater. I also do not understand how the old Darwin LNG storage tank was approved for re-use, even though it's leaking large volumes of methane. Time to backtrack on this before it's too late."
Jeanette Swan 
Can we afford net zero?
"The information in your climate change articles is scary, as intended, but it's time to get real and time for our leaders to be honest. When Australia achieves net zero, there will still be bushfires, droughts, floods, cyclones and really hot summer days. Australia is too small to make a significant difference in CO2 emissions on a global scale and our attempts to reach net zero are simply moving our emissions offshore (and the jobs with them)."
Karin Mogg
Time for action
"I agree that much must be done but the effectiveness of any efforts by Australia are akin to moving the deck chairs on the Titanic. However drastic the actions of our governments, our contributions will not affect the world situation. I believe we need to actively enact activities to draw back from the coasts, start to severely restrict development in flood and fire prone areas and generally over-govern the population because we are too stupid to do it for ourselves."
Edwin Daly
We'd love to hear from you. You can email us with your thoughts on our stories and each day we'll publish an edited selection.
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Auckland University of Technology
Auckland, New Zealand
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Contract
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AUT
Auckland CBD, Auckland, New Zealand
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Full Time
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