New figures have revealed inspections of stores suspected of selling illicit tobacco have dropped as the Cook government has defended the delay in giving Western Australia Police greater powers to deal with illicit tobacco.

Press PLAY to hear how many inspections were carried out

CEO of the Australian Council on Smoking and Health Laura Hunter says the recent figures are alarming.

“Everyone should be quite concerned about this, we’ve been calling for updates to the state tobacco laws in WA for many years now … the last time they were updated was 2017 and the landscape … has changed significantly,” she told Chrissy Morrissy.

Ms Hunter also noted that the penalties stores caught selling illicit tobacco face are minor.

“It’s basically a slap on the wrist,” she added.

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