Illicit tobacco trade in Australia: A brief history, current research findings, future policy steps

Please click the link below to register for the webinar:

https://otago.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_TbxP7ytFRWWAHpXNCk-14Q#/registration

Date: 27th March 2026

Time: 10:00 - 11:00 AEST / 13:00 - 14:00 NZDT

Join us for an exploration of Australia’s illicit tobacco market, which has expanded rapidly in recent years, now estimated to comprise approximately 50-60% of the overall tobacco market. Prof Coral Gartner and Dr Cheneal Puljević from the University of Queensland’s NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence on Achieving the Tobacco Endgame will discuss these recent trends and findings from their recent studies exploring various aspects of Australia’s illicit tobacco trade. Prof Gartner will provide an overview of the historical context of Australia’s illicit tobacco market and present findings on trends in prevalence of use. She will also discuss recent regulatory reforms in Australia to address the illicit supply of tobacco through retail outlets. Dr Puljević will provide a brief overview of findings from a national survey, street intercept surveys, and qualitative interviews conducted with consumers of illicitly traded tobacco products, focusing on drivers of use.

Professor Coral Gartner is the Director of the NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence on Achieving the Tobacco Endgame and an Australian Research Council Future Fellow. She is a Past President of the Oceania Chapter of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco. Her research focuses on policies that could permanently end the commercial tobacco epidemic. Her disciplinary background is environmental health, and she holds a PhD in environmental epidemiology. Professor Gartner has published over 300 academic works and has served as an expert witness to a number of government inquiries and consultations.

Dr Cheneal Puljević is a UQ Amplify Senior Research Fellow at the NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence on Achieving the Tobacco Endgame at the School of Public Health. Her current research, funded by an ARC DECRA Fellowship (2023-2026), focuses on the drivers and deterrents of illicit tobacco use. Her other research interests include smoking cessation among disadvantaged populations, drug checking (pill testing), alcohol-fuelled violence, and substance use harm reduction  Cheneal is a core research team member for the Global Drug Survey, an Associate Editor for the International Journal of Drug Policy, a Deputy Editor for Drug and Alcohol Review, and a volunteer (and former Queensland Research Lead) for The Loop Australia.