Mr. Eugene Corcoran:

The Criminal Assets Bureau has a very specific statutory function regarding the proceeds of crime and depriving criminals of the proceeds, which includes, in this instance, people engaged in the illicit tobacco trade. I shall address some of the issues from that perspective. It is difficult to view the illicit tobacco trade in isolation when dealing with organised crime because it presents a considerable opportunity to earn large profits by those engaged in this type of criminal activity, whether they are organised criminals or connected to dissident groups.

With regards the specific issue of plain packaging and its likely impact on people involved in the trade, it is quite difficult for us to address the matter because we have had little or no international experience of doing so, apart from in Australia. The current packaging presents little or no difficulty for illicit traders to carry on trading. Whether plain packaging presents an easier route for them to disguise the packaging is a moot point. They are largely indifferent to packaging in terms of the trade that they engage in and that is all I can say for the moment.