Australia politics live: furious Lambie warns Hastie cartoon shows Hanson’s ‘true colours’; ‘no graver accusation’ than traitor, Paterson says

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Labor introducing new laws to crack down on illegal tobacco

Labor will introduce new laws to make it easier to prosecute criminals involved in the illicit tobacco trade, as the government fights an uphill battle against the exploding black market.

The new laws think about it as a list of observable indicators, very simple, fact-based things like: is the tobacco appropriately packaged? Is it a menthol cigarette even hiding in plain packaging? Is it being concealed? Does it have paperwork at the border?

Or my personal favourite: is the retail price of this packet of cigarettes less than the amount of excise and GST combined? If any of these facts are proven, just one of them, that establishes the reasonable suspicion of the criminal offence of importing, possession, or conveying. It’ll give powerful new tools to Border Force but every state and territory police force to go after the crooks.

I said, look, my door’s open if you want to talk about this. I don’t know why he thinks I’m a liar. I don’t quite know why he believes I lied about it.

I’m disappointed he thinks I’m a coward. I don’t know how he came to that opinion but that’s up to him. I don’t think he’s a traitor. I absolutely respect the services given to our nation, like my family, has given to the service of New Zealand and Australia. Democracy’s a robust thing.