The NSW Opposition has today welcomed the Minns Labor Government\u2019s decision to follow the Opposition\u2019s lead in finally acting on illicit tobacco and vapes, dangerous products peddled by organised crime in plain sight of NSW communities.
Leader of the Opposition Mark Speakman said while this overdue announcement is a step in the right direction, it\u2019s clear Labor only acted after months of political pressure, media scrutiny and growing community frustration.
\u201cWe\u2019ve been calling for this for months. Communities knew it. Small businesses knew it. Parents knew it. And now finally the Premier knows it,\u201d Mr Speakman said.
Shadow Attorney General Alister Henskens said the Minns Labor Government had presided over a surge in illegal tobacco and vapes, while gangs exploited weak penalties and slow enforcement.
\u201cThe government ignored what everyone could see, blacked-out shops appearing overnight, with no receipts, no regulation and no accountability,\u201d Mr Henskens said.
Shadow Minister for Health Kellie Sloane said illicit tobacco wasn\u2019t just a law and order issue, it was a growing public health crisis affecting young people, families and local communities.
\u201cWe can\u2019t allow another generation to be targeted by criminal operators selling cheap, addictive poison under the counter,\u201d Ms Sloane said.
Shadow Minister for Regional Health Gurmesh Singh said communities outside Sydney had been particularly vulnerable due to lack of enforcement.
\u201cFrom the coast to the west, regional main streets had become easy targets,\u201d Mr Singh said.
The NSW Coalition\u2019s original announcement, made publicly on 29 June included:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The NSW Opposition has today welcomed the Minns Labor Government\u2019s decision to follow the Opposition\u2019s lead in finally acting on illicit tobacco and vapes, dangerous products peddled by organised crime in plain sight of NSW communities. Leader of the Opposition Mark Speakman said while this overdue announcement is a step in the right direction, it\u2019s clear … Continue reading “Labor follows opposition lead to shut down dodgy smoke dens”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33917","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nswnews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33917","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33917"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33917\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33918,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33917\/revisions\/33918"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33917"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33917"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33917"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}