British American Tobacco Australia - All Media Releases
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British American Tobacco Australia (BATA) believes today’s announcement of a $250 million shortfall in tobacco excise is due to the flourishing illegal tobacco market.
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British American Tobacco Australia (BATA) welcomed the release of Australian Tax Office (ATO) figures today showing that the company contributed $200 million in corporate tax.
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British American Tobacco Australia (BATA) is frustrated at efforts to undermine action against the tobacco blackmarket.
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British American Tobacco Australia (BATA) commends the AFP, NSW Police and other agencies for their focus on illegal tobacco importers and dealers in their raids across Sydney this morning.
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British American Tobacco Australia (BATA), Imperial Tobacco Australia (ITA) and Philip Morris Limited (PML) are disappointed by the ACCC’s decision to deny their application for approval to collectively cease selling legal tobacco products to retailers caught selling illegal tobacco.
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Commenting on the Government's move to increase tax on roll your own tobacco, British American Tobacco Australia (BATA) was disappointed that smokers are again being hit and warned that the measure will further drive the tobacco black-market.
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Illegal tobacco consumption in Australia is now estimated to be worth up to $1.61 billion in foregone excise revenue, highlighting the need for a coordinated national approach to combat black market smuggling and production.
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British American Tobacco Australia (BATA) yesterday called upon the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Law Enforcement (PJCLE) to recommend the Government adopt a National Anti-Illicit Tobacco Strategy.
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British American Tobacco Australia (BATA) welcomed the release of Australian Tax Office (ATO) figures today showing that the company contributed over $250 million in corporate tax.
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British American Tobacco (BAT) has been named as one of the most diverse and inclusive companies worldwide in a Thomson Reuters Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) Index published this week.
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British American Tobacco Australia (BATA) today warned of significant growth in the illegal tobacco market as another 12.5% tobacco excise increase takes effect.
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British American Tobacco Australia (BATA) today said the announcement in last night’s budget that the Coalition government would introduce a further round of large ad hoc tobacco excise increases must have the organised crime syndicates who smuggle large quantities of illegal tobacco into the country champing at the bit.
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British American Tobacco Australia (BATA) today congratulated authorities on seizing more than 60 acres of illegal tobacco plants in regional Victoria last week.
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British American Tobacco Australia (BATA) today welcomed the opportunity to participate in the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Law Enforcement into illegal tobacco.
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British American Tobacco Australia (BATA) today released a report by SLG Economics that reviews and analyses information on plain packaging from four independent surveys including three of which were commissioned by government.
View PIR media release (311 kb) View PIR report (544 kb)
British American Tobacco Australia (BATA) said the plain packaging post-implementation review (PIR) released by the Federal Department of Health (DoH) today did not provide any conclusive evidence.
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British American Tobacco Australia (BATA) today congratulated the Minister Immigration and Border Protection Peter Dutton for announcing a dedicated Australian Border Force (ABF) strike team to target illegal tobacco.
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British American Tobacco Australia (BATA) today warned of the imminent growth in cheap cigarettes as another large 12.5 per cent ad hoc tobacco excise increase takes effect.
The additional tax shock is the third in an annual series of four hikes which slugs smokers who then in turn look for cheaper alternatives.
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British American Tobacco Australia (BATA) today called for more to be done to eradicate the tobacco black market on the eve of World No Tobacco Day.
Due to such high excise levels the amount of illegal tobacco used by Australians represents 14.5 per cent of total consumption, costing the government over $1.35 billion in lost taxes.
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British American Tobacco Australia (BATA) is considering launching a Make Your Own (MYO) cigarette brand to try and capture the growing number of illegal chop chop smokers.
Chop chop or illegal loose leaf tobacco currently makes up the majority of the illegal black market and we are being forced to compete with organised crime for market share due to the government’s failed excise system.
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Tax loss to government estimated at $1.35 billion
Consumption of illegal tobacco has reached record levels in Australia with a new report revealing increased activity from tobacco smugglers and unscrupulous traders as the cost of legal cigarettes continues to rise.
View media release (531 kb) KPMG report FY 2014 (1,161 kb)
British American Tobacco Australia (BATA) today released information sourced from government and respected third party providers which shows that plain packaging is failing.
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British American Tobacco Australia (BATA) today revealed that one of its well-known brands has been illegally counterfeited in the olive green plain packaging format for the first time and sold in Australia.
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British American Tobacco Australia (BATA) today responded to television reports in South Australia that tobacco prices would increase from 1 February.
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British American Tobacco Australia (BATA) today called for an open consultation during the Post-Implementation Review (PIR) of plain packaging which is expected to begin on 1 December 2014.
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British American Tobacco (BAT) today released a report by Ernst & Young (EY) that assesses the impact of government policy on tobacco consumption over the last decade.
View EY media release (219 kb) View EY report (746 kb)
British American Tobacco Australia (BATA) today revealed there has been a spike in national and state based smoking rates in young people since the introduction of plain packaging according to government statistics.
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Read the latest report produced by KPMG about Australia's illegal tobacco problem
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British American Tobacco (BAT) today said that it will be closing its Australian manufacturing facility and move offshore in the third quarter of next year.
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British American Tobacco Australia (BATA) today says a government survey has underestimated Australian smoking rates and its decline is in line with historical trends and not a result of plain packaging.
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British American Tobacco Australia (BATA) today congratulated authorities for using the increased penalties under an amendment to the Customs Act 1901, made in 2012, to prosecute two illegal tobacco importers for smuggling over 1.4 million cigarettes from Korea in June 2013.
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The Federal Government’s tobacco excise policy combined with the failed plain packaging legislation is resulting in more smokers purchasing cigarettes from the lower priced segment than ever. Today there are 1.4 million smokers purchasing legal cigarettes between $13 and $15.
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Federal Government policy resulting in large tobacco excise increases is driving demand for low price cigarettes which is having the opposite effect that it was intended to have.
British American Tobacco Australia (BATA) was this week forced to launch the cheapest legal pack of 25 cigarettes on the market in an effort to remain competitive in the growing low price segment.\
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British American Tobacco Australia (BATA) today congratulated authorities on seizing 350,000 illegal tobacco plants in Victoria over the weekend.
The seizure is the largest of its kind and highlights the growing illegal tobacco problem Australia is facing due to growing excise levels.
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The total consumption of illegal cigarettes and chop chop climbed to its highest ever rate according to a report released today by the industry. The report is prepared by KPMG UK and also shows that the use of illegal cigarettes grew 151 per cent in the last year alone.
View Illegal tobacco report FY 2013 (328 kb)
View KPMG report FY 2013 (2,383 kb)
British American Tobacco Australia (BATA) today made it very clear that all data available since the introduction of plain packaging demonstrates that the policy has failed and is having the opposite effect to what the previous government intended.
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British American Tobacco Australia (BATA) today congratulated the Ararat City Council for prosecuting a tobacco retailer with stocking more than $10,000 worth of illegal tobacco which could lead to fines of over $100,000.
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British American Tobacco Australia (BATA) spokesperson Scott McIntyre today congratulated the Victorian Government on quadrupling fines for retailers caught with illegal tobacco and strongly urged other states to follow their lead.
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British American Tobacco Australia (BATA) spokesperson Scott McIntyre said today that people making telephone calls and people quitting smoking were two different things.
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British American Tobacco Australia (BATA) said today after a year of implementation the plain packaging experiment is not working and had no impact on legal tobacco volumes.
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The first illegal tobacco report released since plain packaging was introduced last year shows the problem has worsened with the tobacco black market now booming with illicit cigarettes imported from mainly Asia and the Middle East.
View the media release (219 kb) View the Illegal Tobacco Report (1,146 kb)
British American Tobacco Australia (BATA) spokesperson Scott McIntyre said consumers have not changed their purchasing behavior since the implementation of plain packs on 1 December last year.
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On World No Tobacco Day (WNTD) British American Tobacco Australia (BATA) is calling for greater consultation between the Australian government and the tobacco industry to ensure more sensible and effective regulation in the future.
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The amount of illegal loose leaf tobacco or “chop chop” sold on Australian streets increased last year according to an annual industry report by Deloitte, while the number of illegal cigarettes peddled across the country has reduced.
View the media release (218 kb)
View the report (1,534 kb)
British American Tobacco Australia (BATA) spokesperson Scott McIntyre welcomed the government’s tougher tobacco smuggling laws which passed through parliament today.
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British American Tobacco Australia (BATA) said it was pleased the High Court had today found that its trademarks, patents, designs, copyrights and brands such as Winfield and Dunhill constitute property.
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British American Tobacco Australia (BATA) spokesperson Scott McIntyre today said the Tobacco Plain Packaging Act (TPP) was a bad piece of law that would have serious unintended consequences.
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An annual report into the size of illegal tobacco problem found a significant shift in the black market with criminal gangs now smuggling three times the amount of counterfeit and contraband cigarettes into Australia than the previous year.
View the media release (109 kb)
3 May 2012 - Deloriette (2,525 kb)
The hearing for British American Tobacco’s (BAT) challenge against the Tobacco Plain Packaging Act (TPP) will begin tomorrow before the seven High Court Judges in Canberra.
Allan Myers QC will argue on behalf of BAT that the TPP legislation is unconstitutional due to the fact the Commonwealth is trying to acquire our valuable intellectual property without compensation
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British American Tobacco today responsed to to media speculation about the possible banning of the sale and import of duty-free tobacco products for incoming travellers into Australia, claiming it wouldn't deter smokers.
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British American Tobacco Australia (BATA) confirmed it will commence proceedings in the High Court against the Federal Government immediately after plain packaging gains Royal Assent, if the legislation passes through the Senate today.
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BATA warned there could be no legal tobacco on retailer shelves from 1 July 2012.
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British American Tobacco Australia (BATA) will tomorrow front a Senate inquiry into a key part of Minister Roxon’s plain packaging laws.
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British American Tobacco Australia (BATA) confirmed that if plain packaging passes through the Senate and becomes law then Australia’s highest selling cigarette manufacturer will head straight to the High Court to challenge the Federal Government on the legislation.
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NSW Police, Australian Federal Police, Australian Customs and Operation Polaris seize 60 tonnes of illegal “chop chop” tobacco and 25 million counterfeit cigarettes.
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With debate on the Tobacco Plain Packaging Bill and contentious Trademarks Bill expected in Parliament tomorrow, it’s critical every MP who will have to vote on moving the Bills into the Senate see the advice on the legality and constitutionality of plain packaging.
“The Federal Government had continually declined to release their legal advice through the Freedom of Information (FOI) process and BATA suspects that is because it’s likely to demonstrate their plain packaging laws are flawed,” said BAT Australia's spokesperson, Scott McIntyre.
"It’s alarming to see tens of thousands of kilograms of illegal tobacco sold in Sydney. Of 150 electorates in Australia, it’s the worst." said David Crow in BAT Australia's recent media release.
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British American Tobacco Australia makes its submission to the Department of Health and Ageing as part of the Tobacco Plain Packaging Bill 2011 consultation process.
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British American Tobacco Australia is pleased a Full Federal Court of Australia will hear it’s appeal against the Federal Government’s repeated refusal to make public its legal advice on plain packaging. BAT Australia suspects that Minister Roxon hasn’t released the legal advice because it’s likely to demonstrate her plain packaging laws are flawed.
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British American Tobacco Australia CEO, David Crow today launched a national media campaign which questions the Federal Government’s proposed plain packaging legislation while also releasing a series of confidential government documents to support the company’s view.
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Visit www.plainpack.com to read about BAT Australia's views on plain packaging and watch British American Tobacco Australia CEO, David Crow discuss the unintended consequences.
British American Tobacco Australia has been forced to lodge an appeal in the Federal Court of Australia after the Federal Government repeatedly refused to release a key document through the Freedom of Information (FOI) process.
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British American Tobacco Australia said it was disappointed the Government has pushed ahead with plain packaging despite the risk it would end up costing taxpayers billions even though there was no proof it would work.
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The Federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon has just confirmed speculation that there will be an increase in tobacco excise of 25 per cent effective as at 12:01am (Friday 30 April 2010). Read our news release.
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Allegations that British American Tobacco Australia use social media as a way of subversive advertising was published in the Sydney Morning Herald on Saturday, 24 April. Read our official statement.
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British American Tobacco Australia supports new regulations regarding the manufacture of reduced fire risk (RFR) cigarettes and the end goal of reducing fires, but warns that no cigarette is safe. Read more in our news release below.
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A new report by PwC, Illegal tobacco: counting the cost of Australia’s black market,shows Australia’s illegal tobacco market continues to grow, with more than 12 per cent of all tobacco consumed illegal and costing the Federal Government more than $600 million per year in lost revenue. Read our response to the release of the PwC Report.
View PwC press release (141 kb) View Illegal Tobacco Report (306 kb)