Victorian businesses could soon be slugged up to $1500 a year to sell tobacco, 9News can reveal.
Health Minister Mary-Anne Thomas is in the process of creating licences for all shops that wish to sell cigarettes, as a way to address the ongoing turf war in the industry.
The licensing fees are expected to be quite high, ranging from $1100 to $1490 for the application and yearly renewal for each shop, which has received criticism from the Australian Association of Convenience Stores.
The chief executive, Theo Foukkare, expressed dissatisfaction with the government’s proposed fee structure, stating that they do not support it.
”We’d be suggesting around $500, which is where it’s at in Queensland.”
Every other state and territory already has a licensing scheme, with Victoria the last and the priciest to create one.
Only Tasmania comes close, where it costs $1340 for a tobacco licence, followed by NSW, where it’s $1100.
Other states and territories are vastly cheaper, including the ACT ($638), Queensland ($474), South Australia ($340), Western Australia ($278), and the Northern Territory ($282).
“The cost of doing business over the last three years has exploded and the last thing we need is a very high licence fee,” Foukkare said.
“My concern around the fees are they’re very high,” Shadow Minister for Consumer Affairs Tim McCurdy said.
“People will pay the cost, Victorians will pay the cost.”
There are concerns too that high licence fees may spark a bigger crisis by potentially encouraging retailers to operate in the blackmarket, Foukkare said.
Businesses have got around a month to make their case for a lower price before the new fees are then set in May’s budget.
The licensing scheme will then start on July 1, though no one will be checking them until the middle of next year.
“They’ve been slow pulling this together, we passed the legislation last year,” McCurdy said. “It needs to come a bit quicker than that.”
