This summer’s crackdown by the Minns government on the tobacco trade, with raids on retail outlets across NSW suspected of selling illicit cigarettes and vapes, risks being undermined by planning law loopholes.

For every NSW premises shut down, current rules allow black marketeers to open up next door or down the road as a new retail outlet and stay in business.

A tobacconist on the Pacific Highway at St Leonards is among dozens shuttered by inspectors. Credit: Louise Kennerley

It is just another example of the un-coordinated efforts by levels of government and the unintended consequences that have thwarted attempts to rein in the pernicious impact of the tobacco trade on the nation’s health and organised crime.

The Albanese government’s laudable attempt to use tax as a public health measure to break the lethal grip of tobacco has blown up in the faces of state governments. The soaring prices have........

© The Sydney Morning Herald