MGA CEO Martin Stirling tells Senate inquiry about customer aggression towards retail workers over tobacco prices
Master Grocers Australia CEO Martin Stirling appeared before a Senate inquiry into Australia’s illicit tobacco trade, highlighting the dangerous aggression retail workers are facing from customers frustrated by the price difference between legal and illegal tobacco.
In coverage by NewsWire titled “Retail workers forced to flee to ‘safe rooms’ as Australia’s illicit tobacco crisis takes hold,” published on May 18, 2026, Martin detailed how the normalization of cheap illicit tobacco prices has created hostile situations for workers in legitimate stores.
“The price of illicit tobacco has now been normalised. There is a normalised baseline of about $10 per pack (of cigarettes),” Martin told the inquiry. “When customers complete their grocery shop at an independent supermarket and perhaps want to purchase some tobacco, they become irate when they’re told (the price) will be $50 or $60.”
Martin emphasized the impact this price disparity is having on frontline workers, particularly younger staff members.
“That then leads to aggression and it leads to incredibly dangerous and uncomfortable situations, especially for young retail workers who might be confronting that kind of aggression for the first time in their lives,” he said.
The inquiry heard that the illicit tobacco trade is costing the federal government $5.4 billion in lost tax revenue, with the black market sparking violence between organized crime gangs that has resulted in three deaths and over 200 arson attacks.
The article also reported that some retailers in high-risk areas have been forced to convert back offices into “safe rooms” where staff can escape if attacked.
For media enquiries, please contact:
Kath Markov, Marketing & Partnerships Manager
kath.markov@mgaiba.org.au
0452 660 506
