Philip Morris uses secret Senate hearing to warn illegal tobacco in Australia could wipe out legal trade by 2030

Tobacco giant Philip Morris told a secret Senate hearing that soaring trade in illegal cigarettes would wipe out legal products in Australia as soon as 2030, claiming executives’ identities should be kept secret because of threats from organised crime. Labor criticised Coalition MPs for allowing the company to give evidence to an inquiry on illegal tobacco in a closed-door session in Canberra on Monday, ending more than 15 years of precedent under a World Health Organization (WHO) agreement. Australia is a signatory to the WHO framework convention on tobacco control, which is designed to stop interference in public health policy from cigarette manufacturers. It calls for transparency around evidence from tobacco companies when required in decision-making. Guardian Australia can reveal the evidence – delivered in a private “in camera” session – included dire warnings about the rise of illegal and unregulated tobacco products and the risk that some multinational manufacturers could exit the Australian market due to declining legal sales. The federal government’s illicit tobacco and e-cigarette commissioner has told the inquiry that illegal tobacco sales account for between 50% and 60% of the Australian tobacco market today. Those sales are worth as much as $6.9bn. Executives are understood to have argued lowering federal tobacco excise would undercut hidden market operators. …