Treasury considering changes to Australia’s contentious tobacco excise, as calls grow for a freeze

The Albanese government has previously rebuffed any suggestion that reducing the ballooning cost of cigarettes was the solution to curbing the black market trade. Photograph: William West/AFP/Getty Images

Experts say a freeze on the federal government’s contentious tobacco excise should be considered, after the Treasury revealed it was modelling the impacts of cigarette prices on demand amid a booming black market.

Lachlan Vass, a research manager at the e61 Institute, said the Treasury’s examination of “price elasticity” and demand for tobacco would be a necessary step to costing potential reforms to the excise.