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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Benita Kolovos Victorian state correspondent

Victoria seeks to snuff out tobacco wars with nation’s ‘toughest’ cigarette sales rules and ‘fit and proper persons’ test

Tobacco Victoria Police
Burnt tobacco products are seen in a fire damaged window within the crime scene of a suspicious fire at a tobacco shop.
The Victorian government will introduce a tobacco licensing scheme after more than 100 stores were targeted in a turf war. Photograph: James Ross/AAP

Victorian tobacco shop owners will need to pass a “fit and proper persons” test and a dedicated regulator will enforce new rules – with jail time and fines of up to $1.7m for those who breach them – under a long-awaited licensing scheme described by the state premier as the “toughest” in the country.

In a bid to crack down on the illicit trade and stem a turf war that has seen more than 100 businesses firebombed, the government will introduce legislation to establish the licensing scheme in parliament on Tuesday.

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