For years, Australia has made cigarettes increasingly expensive to try to drive down smoking. Now, the Coalition wants to dramatically reverse course.

It’s promised to slash tobacco excise by 80 per cent, arguing that soaring cigarette prices have fuelled a violent black market. It also wants to legalise and regulate vapes and nicotine pouches.

Labor says there’s no evidence the tax cuts would draw smokers away from the black market, while public health authorities warn it could undo decades of progress in reducing smoking.

So, who’s right?

Today, Martin McKenzie-Murray on how Australia’s public health success helped create the conditions for a deadly tobacco war – and whether making cigarettes cheaper could actually help end it.

This episode was first published in May 2025.

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