Shutdown orders for illicit tobacco shops in Adelaide suburbs from 2024 in South Australia government clampdown

One of the illicit tobacco shops in Adelaide suburbs gets a shutdown notice during the December 2024 clampdown. The South Australian government’s nation-leading crackdown on the illicit tobacco and vape market was a response to organised crime controlling an estimated 75% of the illicit tobacco market in Australia.
Image courtesy 7News, Adelaide

The South Australia government’s tough approach to combatting the illicit tobacco and vape trade brought the first illegal tobacco shops shutdown in late 2024.

The government's consumer and business affairs minister Andrea Michaels ordered the closure of five unlicensed stores in Adelaide suburbs of Hindmarsh, Dernancourt, Salisbury North, Blair Athol and Campbelltown after considering evidence of recent illicit activity at the premises. The Hindmarsh store had been the target of many law-enforcement operations with the most recent raid by the government's consumer and business services division seizing nearly10,000 illicit cigarettes, 2000 cigarette tubes and half a kilo of tobacco.

The minister’s closure orders for the tovacco stores applied for 72 hours and she was able to apply to the magistrates court for a longer closure order of up to six months. Any business who violated a closure order could be hit with a penalty of up to $1.1 million and an individual up to $700,000.

The South Australian government’s nation-leading crackdown on the illicit tobacco and vape market was a response to organised crime controlling an estimated 75%of the illicit tobacco market in Australia. The government invested $16 million in a dedicated taskforce within consumer and business services to tackle this illicit trade from July 2024. Consumer and business services worked closely with South Australian police's Operation Eclipse as well as Australian border force and the therapeutic hoods administration to get the illicit products off South Australian streets.

Consumer and business services conducted regular inspections and raids and found that, despite being raided, some illicit stores were up and running again almost immediately. The new powers meant they could be shut down and prevented from trading for up to six months.

South Australia also had significantly higher penalties relating to the sale of illicit tobacco and vapes of up to $1.5 million in effect.