Latest news with #BeckyFreeman
West Australian
16-07-2025
- Health
- West Australian
Vape use among teens dropping for the first time as government regulation stems access
Rates of vaping among young people have started to drop for the first time in signs tighter government regulation is turning the tide. Latest figures from the Generation Vape study reveal 85 per cent of Australian teens aged 14-17 have never vaped, up from 82 per cent in 2023. The proportion of young people who have never smoked is also at its highest too, at 94 per cent. It's a promising sign teens are turning away from nicotine products, with chief investigator of the study Professor Becky Freeman saying the 'social acceptability of vaping over the past few years has shifted'. 'Young people tried vaping as it was marketed to them as fun, 'safe' and full of great flavours, but increasingly young people report the realities of vaping addiction and harm to their wellbeing,' Professor Freeman said. Access to vape products has also declined since the introduction of federal vape laws in July 2024 that aim to limit the sale of vapes to pharmacies only, regardless of nicotine content. About one in four young people reported purchasing their own vape, down from roughly one in three before the laws came into play. Tobacconist and vape shops remained a major source of vape sales with about one in three teens buying from such a retailer, highlighting ongoing difficulties with regulation and enforcement. Chair of the Cancer Council's tobacco issues committee Alecia Brooks said the latest figures were encouraging indicators that vaping laws are protecting young people, but that some retailers 'continue to exploit young people'. 'Some tobacconists and vape shops are still blatantly selling illegal vapes to young people,' Ms Brooks said. It comes as calls to WA's poisons hotline from concerned parents worried their babies have been exposed to vapes have tripled just six months into the year. Speaking on the matter in Budget Estimates earlier this month, Health Minister Meredith Hammat said the spike in calls reflected 'a growing awareness in the community about the harmful nature of vapes'. Since January 2024 the Therapeutic Goods Administration and Australian Border Force have seized more than 10 million illicit vapes with a street value of nearly half a billion dollars. Federal Health Minister Mark Butler said 'vaping rates for young Australians have now turned the corner'. 'Our education and prevention campaigns as well as support to deter people from taking up vaping and smoking or to quit are making a difference,' he said.
The Advertiser
25-06-2025
- Health
- The Advertiser
We asked 3 experts to fact check Google AI. Their responses may scare you
The world's most popular search engine is using AI to provide information that is sometimes "stripped of all context", "unsubstantiated" and "silly", including about health and nutrition. Google began rolling out artificial intelligence summaries at the top of search results for Australians in late 2024, which now often appear at the top of the page as an "AI overview" in response to a query. Instead of providing just a ranked list of links to sources as Google has in the past, it now combines that with a large language model trained on information from all over the internet to generate a conversational response to a query. "We've trained these models to uphold Search's high bar for quality," Google said when it announced the rollout at the time. But when ACM, the publisher of this masthead, asked experts to fact check four Google AI summaries, they raised concerns. The queries, or prompts, used were designed to reflect how a general user of Google might frame a search. This acknowledges most people come with preconceived ideas or advice about a topic, but not necessarily a lot of knowledge. The query: Vaping versus smoking Google's AI answer: Vaping (using e-cigarettes) is generally considered less harmful than smoking traditional cigarettes, but it's not entirely risk-free. While vaping exposes individuals to fewer toxic chemicals, it can still lead to various health problems, including addiction, lung damage, and potential long-term health effects. The expert's response: "I find it very concerning that this AI response is so stripped of all context, positioning vaping as 'less harmful' but for whom, under what circumstances?" Professor Becky Freeman said. "This response seems to assume that there are only two choices: smoking or vaping. The vast majority of people neither smoke nor vape," Professor Freeman, from the University of Sydney's School of Public Health said. While vaping may be "safer" in some limited circumstances, young people had a very poor understanding of nicotine addiction. "For young people, most of whom have never smoked, vaping is not a safer choice; the safer choice is to not vape, or smoke, at all," she said. The query: How bad are offshore wind farms Google's AI answer: Offshore wind farms have both positive and negative environmental impacts, with concerns primarily focused on marine life, particularly whales and other marine mammals. While they offer a cleaner energy source than fossil fuels, the construction and operation of these farms can disrupt marine ecosystems through noise pollution and potential habitat changes. The expert's response: "That particular answer is silly," Professor Andrew Blakers said. "Everything has good and bad points. In this case, the good/bad ratio is 10:1," the award-winning engineering professor said. Alongside the AI overview in this example, Google's top website link was to a blog post from the Australian Fishing Trade Association, which represents recreational fishers and is opposed to wind farms. Google maintains it pairs its traditional web page ranking system with the language model to maintain the integrity of AI responses, providing links to source sites alongside the overview. In future it could include links to sources directly within the summary. It said AI results were designed as a "jumping off point" for people to explore a topic through quality web links. "AI overviews are built to surface information that is backed up by web results, and include links to web content that supports the information presented in the overview," a Google spokesperson told ACM. Most Australians are worried about generative AI. Nearly 60 per cent of Australians were concerned specifically that AI could create harmful or fake content, according to the final digital platforms report from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC). More than half were worried about the accuracy of AI and almost 50 per cent were concerned about the lack of transparency about how AI arrives at its results. The ACCC wants the resources to monitor changes to generative AI across the global digital giants, which it says will spend more than US$250 billion developing the technology in 2025. The query: why McDonald's is good for you Google's AI answer: McDonald's can be a part of a balanced diet when consumed in moderation and as part of an overall healthy lifestyle. While not a source of optimal nutrition, McDonald's does offer some options that can be incorporated into a healthy eating pattern. For example, items like the Egg McMuffin, some salads, and fruit options can provide protein, vitamins, and fibre. However, it's crucial to be mindful of portion sizes, sodium content, and overall calorie intake when eating at McDonald's. The expert's response: "There are a number of unsubstantiated and meaningless statements in this AI response," public health Professor Christina Pollard said. "Credible, reliable dietary advice recommends to limit or avoid the consumption of fast food. "There is absolutely no recommendation to eat McDonald's types of food in moderation - this term is meaningless. "Dietary recommendations are about food groups, to eat and enjoy a 'wide variety of nutritious food every day'," the Curtin University Public Health Advocacy Institute director said. A healthy diet involved plenty of fruit and vegetables, milk and dairy, wholegrains, and lean meat or alternatives - and "specifically to limit or avoid high fat, high sugar, or high salt foods and drinks". "Overall, [the] McDonald's menu is counter to these recommendations," Professor Pollard said. She said dietitians would not recommend McDonald's as part of a healthy diet and suggested a better response to the query would be: "A diet based on McDonald's foods is not good for you." A spokesperson for Google said people could use the links provided to find more information. "On health-related queries where we do show a response, people can use the corroborating links to help inform their knowledge through their health journey," they told ACM. Large language models, sometimes referred to by their acronym LLMs, are trained on masses of data and can generate new content, such as text, videos, images and audio, in response to conversational queries or "prompts" from users. This is generally what people are referring to when they talk about publicly-available artificial intelligence services, including chatbots like ChatGPT. The most common uses of AI by consumers, according to the ACCC, were searching for information, summarising information, and reviewing text. About 79 per cent of Australians aged 14 to 17 had used generative AI for school or study, the commission's digital platforms report found. "The implications for search quality remain uncertain," the ACCC said in its report released on June 23. "As search engines incorporate this technology into their services in different ways, generative AI may lead to a new era of more relevant, efficient, and intuitive search. "It could also raise new challenges for consumers seeking credible, reliable, unbiased, and verifiable information." The query: when to consume energy drinks Google's AI answer: Energy drinks are often consumed to boost energy and alertness, making them popular for certain situations. They can be beneficial before exercise, during long-distance activities, and when tackling afternoon slumps or feeling tired. However, it's important to be mindful of the timing and potential side effects, especially regarding sleep. The expert's response: Public health expert Christina Pollard said energy drinks are not recommended. "Although energy drinks are heavily marketed, they are not recommended by health authorities," she said. "People can experience sleep issues, agitation, and lack of concentration. "There is no safe level of consumption for children or adolescents as compounds in these products (e.g., caffeine and taurine) can have adverse impacts on developing brain and psycho-motor functions, and social development." Associate Professor Timothy Graham, a digital media expert at Queensland University of Technology, said the "original" Google, which ranked web pages based on how authoritative they were on a particular subject, was a breakthrough in accessing knowledge. "It changed the world in some ways," he said. "It did have an integrity to it, because there was a certain transparency to the way that that worked - and it produced information that was genuinely useful for us." But generative AI was disrupting that system. "The problem with when you just have a large language model giving you the result at the top, you don't have that accountability," he said. Dr Graham said, while there were some opportunities, AI in search could change how we view expertise - and it could provide inaccurate and misleading information. A recent study of Google AI summaries across five US states found 43 per cent linked back to Google's own search results. "I think [it] places too much trust and too much hope and expectation in the technology, in large language models that we know have a number of systemic biases and flaws that we haven't solved yet," he said. "There is a concern, even just from that knowledge perspective, about not only the accuracy of the information, but the way that it kind of simulates and bullshits in ways that are going to, if not mislead people, certainly just pollute the internet." Until now modern society's approach to knowledge was to find an expert in the field to get quality information on a topic. "So if you've got a health dilemma, you go and talk to a doctor," Dr Graham said. "If you want to get a plane to be able to take off and not crash and everyone dies, you go and talk to an engineer and a physicist." But large language models could undermine that authority. "One of the big shifts that we're seeing - and that we're going to see more and more with the explosion of LLMs at the top of the Google results list and other search engines - is a really radical and quite painful shift for society in the relationship between information integrity and authority," he said. The world's most popular search engine is using AI to provide information that is sometimes "stripped of all context", "unsubstantiated" and "silly", including about health and nutrition. Google began rolling out artificial intelligence summaries at the top of search results for Australians in late 2024, which now often appear at the top of the page as an "AI overview" in response to a query. Instead of providing just a ranked list of links to sources as Google has in the past, it now combines that with a large language model trained on information from all over the internet to generate a conversational response to a query. "We've trained these models to uphold Search's high bar for quality," Google said when it announced the rollout at the time. But when ACM, the publisher of this masthead, asked experts to fact check four Google AI summaries, they raised concerns. The queries, or prompts, used were designed to reflect how a general user of Google might frame a search. This acknowledges most people come with preconceived ideas or advice about a topic, but not necessarily a lot of knowledge. The query: Vaping versus smoking Google's AI answer: Vaping (using e-cigarettes) is generally considered less harmful than smoking traditional cigarettes, but it's not entirely risk-free. While vaping exposes individuals to fewer toxic chemicals, it can still lead to various health problems, including addiction, lung damage, and potential long-term health effects. The expert's response: "I find it very concerning that this AI response is so stripped of all context, positioning vaping as 'less harmful' but for whom, under what circumstances?" Professor Becky Freeman said. "This response seems to assume that there are only two choices: smoking or vaping. The vast majority of people neither smoke nor vape," Professor Freeman, from the University of Sydney's School of Public Health said. While vaping may be "safer" in some limited circumstances, young people had a very poor understanding of nicotine addiction. "For young people, most of whom have never smoked, vaping is not a safer choice; the safer choice is to not vape, or smoke, at all," she said. The query: How bad are offshore wind farms Google's AI answer: Offshore wind farms have both positive and negative environmental impacts, with concerns primarily focused on marine life, particularly whales and other marine mammals. While they offer a cleaner energy source than fossil fuels, the construction and operation of these farms can disrupt marine ecosystems through noise pollution and potential habitat changes. The expert's response: "That particular answer is silly," Professor Andrew Blakers said. "Everything has good and bad points. In this case, the good/bad ratio is 10:1," the award-winning engineering professor said. Alongside the AI overview in this example, Google's top website link was to a blog post from the Australian Fishing Trade Association, which represents recreational fishers and is opposed to wind farms. Google maintains it pairs its traditional web page ranking system with the language model to maintain the integrity of AI responses, providing links to source sites alongside the overview. In future it could include links to sources directly within the summary. It said AI results were designed as a "jumping off point" for people to explore a topic through quality web links. "AI overviews are built to surface information that is backed up by web results, and include links to web content that supports the information presented in the overview," a Google spokesperson told ACM. Most Australians are worried about generative AI. Nearly 60 per cent of Australians were concerned specifically that AI could create harmful or fake content, according to the final digital platforms report from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC). More than half were worried about the accuracy of AI and almost 50 per cent were concerned about the lack of transparency about how AI arrives at its results. The ACCC wants the resources to monitor changes to generative AI across the global digital giants, which it says will spend more than US$250 billion developing the technology in 2025. The query: why McDonald's is good for you Google's AI answer: McDonald's can be a part of a balanced diet when consumed in moderation and as part of an overall healthy lifestyle. While not a source of optimal nutrition, McDonald's does offer some options that can be incorporated into a healthy eating pattern. For example, items like the Egg McMuffin, some salads, and fruit options can provide protein, vitamins, and fibre. However, it's crucial to be mindful of portion sizes, sodium content, and overall calorie intake when eating at McDonald's. The expert's response: "There are a number of unsubstantiated and meaningless statements in this AI response," public health Professor Christina Pollard said. "Credible, reliable dietary advice recommends to limit or avoid the consumption of fast food. "There is absolutely no recommendation to eat McDonald's types of food in moderation - this term is meaningless. "Dietary recommendations are about food groups, to eat and enjoy a 'wide variety of nutritious food every day'," the Curtin University Public Health Advocacy Institute director said. A healthy diet involved plenty of fruit and vegetables, milk and dairy, wholegrains, and lean meat or alternatives - and "specifically to limit or avoid high fat, high sugar, or high salt foods and drinks". "Overall, [the] McDonald's menu is counter to these recommendations," Professor Pollard said. She said dietitians would not recommend McDonald's as part of a healthy diet and suggested a better response to the query would be: "A diet based on McDonald's foods is not good for you." A spokesperson for Google said people could use the links provided to find more information. "On health-related queries where we do show a response, people can use the corroborating links to help inform their knowledge through their health journey," they told ACM. Large language models, sometimes referred to by their acronym LLMs, are trained on masses of data and can generate new content, such as text, videos, images and audio, in response to conversational queries or "prompts" from users. This is generally what people are referring to when they talk about publicly-available artificial intelligence services, including chatbots like ChatGPT. The most common uses of AI by consumers, according to the ACCC, were searching for information, summarising information, and reviewing text. About 79 per cent of Australians aged 14 to 17 had used generative AI for school or study, the commission's digital platforms report found. "The implications for search quality remain uncertain," the ACCC said in its report released on June 23. "As search engines incorporate this technology into their services in different ways, generative AI may lead to a new era of more relevant, efficient, and intuitive search. "It could also raise new challenges for consumers seeking credible, reliable, unbiased, and verifiable information." The query: when to consume energy drinks Google's AI answer: Energy drinks are often consumed to boost energy and alertness, making them popular for certain situations. They can be beneficial before exercise, during long-distance activities, and when tackling afternoon slumps or feeling tired. However, it's important to be mindful of the timing and potential side effects, especially regarding sleep. The expert's response: Public health expert Christina Pollard said energy drinks are not recommended. "Although energy drinks are heavily marketed, they are not recommended by health authorities," she said. "People can experience sleep issues, agitation, and lack of concentration. "There is no safe level of consumption for children or adolescents as compounds in these products (e.g., caffeine and taurine) can have adverse impacts on developing brain and psycho-motor functions, and social development." Associate Professor Timothy Graham, a digital media expert at Queensland University of Technology, said the "original" Google, which ranked web pages based on how authoritative they were on a particular subject, was a breakthrough in accessing knowledge. "It changed the world in some ways," he said. "It did have an integrity to it, because there was a certain transparency to the way that that worked - and it produced information that was genuinely useful for us." But generative AI was disrupting that system. "The problem with when you just have a large language model giving you the result at the top, you don't have that accountability," he said. Dr Graham said, while there were some opportunities, AI in search could change how we view expertise - and it could provide inaccurate and misleading information. A recent study of Google AI summaries across five US states found 43 per cent linked back to Google's own search results. "I think [it] places too much trust and too much hope and expectation in the technology, in large language models that we know have a number of systemic biases and flaws that we haven't solved yet," he said. "There is a concern, even just from that knowledge perspective, about not only the accuracy of the information, but the way that it kind of simulates and bullshits in ways that are going to, if not mislead people, certainly just pollute the internet." Until now modern society's approach to knowledge was to find an expert in the field to get quality information on a topic. "So if you've got a health dilemma, you go and talk to a doctor," Dr Graham said. "If you want to get a plane to be able to take off and not crash and everyone dies, you go and talk to an engineer and a physicist." But large language models could undermine that authority. "One of the big shifts that we're seeing - and that we're going to see more and more with the explosion of LLMs at the top of the Google results list and other search engines - is a really radical and quite painful shift for society in the relationship between information integrity and authority," he said. The world's most popular search engine is using AI to provide information that is sometimes "stripped of all context", "unsubstantiated" and "silly", including about health and nutrition. Google began rolling out artificial intelligence summaries at the top of search results for Australians in late 2024, which now often appear at the top of the page as an "AI overview" in response to a query. Instead of providing just a ranked list of links to sources as Google has in the past, it now combines that with a large language model trained on information from all over the internet to generate a conversational response to a query. "We've trained these models to uphold Search's high bar for quality," Google said when it announced the rollout at the time. But when ACM, the publisher of this masthead, asked experts to fact check four Google AI summaries, they raised concerns. The queries, or prompts, used were designed to reflect how a general user of Google might frame a search. This acknowledges most people come with preconceived ideas or advice about a topic, but not necessarily a lot of knowledge. The query: Vaping versus smoking Google's AI answer: Vaping (using e-cigarettes) is generally considered less harmful than smoking traditional cigarettes, but it's not entirely risk-free. While vaping exposes individuals to fewer toxic chemicals, it can still lead to various health problems, including addiction, lung damage, and potential long-term health effects. The expert's response: "I find it very concerning that this AI response is so stripped of all context, positioning vaping as 'less harmful' but for whom, under what circumstances?" Professor Becky Freeman said. "This response seems to assume that there are only two choices: smoking or vaping. The vast majority of people neither smoke nor vape," Professor Freeman, from the University of Sydney's School of Public Health said. While vaping may be "safer" in some limited circumstances, young people had a very poor understanding of nicotine addiction. "For young people, most of whom have never smoked, vaping is not a safer choice; the safer choice is to not vape, or smoke, at all," she said. The query: How bad are offshore wind farms Google's AI answer: Offshore wind farms have both positive and negative environmental impacts, with concerns primarily focused on marine life, particularly whales and other marine mammals. While they offer a cleaner energy source than fossil fuels, the construction and operation of these farms can disrupt marine ecosystems through noise pollution and potential habitat changes. The expert's response: "That particular answer is silly," Professor Andrew Blakers said. "Everything has good and bad points. In this case, the good/bad ratio is 10:1," the award-winning engineering professor said. Alongside the AI overview in this example, Google's top website link was to a blog post from the Australian Fishing Trade Association, which represents recreational fishers and is opposed to wind farms. Google maintains it pairs its traditional web page ranking system with the language model to maintain the integrity of AI responses, providing links to source sites alongside the overview. In future it could include links to sources directly within the summary. It said AI results were designed as a "jumping off point" for people to explore a topic through quality web links. "AI overviews are built to surface information that is backed up by web results, and include links to web content that supports the information presented in the overview," a Google spokesperson told ACM. Most Australians are worried about generative AI. Nearly 60 per cent of Australians were concerned specifically that AI could create harmful or fake content, according to the final digital platforms report from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC). More than half were worried about the accuracy of AI and almost 50 per cent were concerned about the lack of transparency about how AI arrives at its results. The ACCC wants the resources to monitor changes to generative AI across the global digital giants, which it says will spend more than US$250 billion developing the technology in 2025. The query: why McDonald's is good for you Google's AI answer: McDonald's can be a part of a balanced diet when consumed in moderation and as part of an overall healthy lifestyle. While not a source of optimal nutrition, McDonald's does offer some options that can be incorporated into a healthy eating pattern. For example, items like the Egg McMuffin, some salads, and fruit options can provide protein, vitamins, and fibre. However, it's crucial to be mindful of portion sizes, sodium content, and overall calorie intake when eating at McDonald's. The expert's response: "There are a number of unsubstantiated and meaningless statements in this AI response," public health Professor Christina Pollard said. "Credible, reliable dietary advice recommends to limit or avoid the consumption of fast food. "There is absolutely no recommendation to eat McDonald's types of food in moderation - this term is meaningless. "Dietary recommendations are about food groups, to eat and enjoy a 'wide variety of nutritious food every day'," the Curtin University Public Health Advocacy Institute director said. A healthy diet involved plenty of fruit and vegetables, milk and dairy, wholegrains, and lean meat or alternatives - and "specifically to limit or avoid high fat, high sugar, or high salt foods and drinks". "Overall, [the] McDonald's menu is counter to these recommendations," Professor Pollard said. She said dietitians would not recommend McDonald's as part of a healthy diet and suggested a better response to the query would be: "A diet based on McDonald's foods is not good for you." A spokesperson for Google said people could use the links provided to find more information. "On health-related queries where we do show a response, people can use the corroborating links to help inform their knowledge through their health journey," they told ACM. Large language models, sometimes referred to by their acronym LLMs, are trained on masses of data and can generate new content, such as text, videos, images and audio, in response to conversational queries or "prompts" from users. This is generally what people are referring to when they talk about publicly-available artificial intelligence services, including chatbots like ChatGPT. The most common uses of AI by consumers, according to the ACCC, were searching for information, summarising information, and reviewing text. About 79 per cent of Australians aged 14 to 17 had used generative AI for school or study, the commission's digital platforms report found. "The implications for search quality remain uncertain," the ACCC said in its report released on June 23. "As search engines incorporate this technology into their services in different ways, generative AI may lead to a new era of more relevant, efficient, and intuitive search. "It could also raise new challenges for consumers seeking credible, reliable, unbiased, and verifiable information." The query: when to consume energy drinks Google's AI answer: Energy drinks are often consumed to boost energy and alertness, making them popular for certain situations. They can be beneficial before exercise, during long-distance activities, and when tackling afternoon slumps or feeling tired. However, it's important to be mindful of the timing and potential side effects, especially regarding sleep. The expert's response: Public health expert Christina Pollard said energy drinks are not recommended. "Although energy drinks are heavily marketed, they are not recommended by health authorities," she said. "People can experience sleep issues, agitation, and lack of concentration. "There is no safe level of consumption for children or adolescents as compounds in these products (e.g., caffeine and taurine) can have adverse impacts on developing brain and psycho-motor functions, and social development." Associate Professor Timothy Graham, a digital media expert at Queensland University of Technology, said the "original" Google, which ranked web pages based on how authoritative they were on a particular subject, was a breakthrough in accessing knowledge. "It changed the world in some ways," he said. "It did have an integrity to it, because there was a certain transparency to the way that that worked - and it produced information that was genuinely useful for us." But generative AI was disrupting that system. "The problem with when you just have a large language model giving you the result at the top, you don't have that accountability," he said. Dr Graham said, while there were some opportunities, AI in search could change how we view expertise - and it could provide inaccurate and misleading information. A recent study of Google AI summaries across five US states found 43 per cent linked back to Google's own search results. "I think [it] places too much trust and too much hope and expectation in the technology, in large language models that we know have a number of systemic biases and flaws that we haven't solved yet," he said. "There is a concern, even just from that knowledge perspective, about not only the accuracy of the information, but the way that it kind of simulates and bullshits in ways that are going to, if not mislead people, certainly just pollute the internet." Until now modern society's approach to knowledge was to find an expert in the field to get quality information on a topic. "So if you've got a health dilemma, you go and talk to a doctor," Dr Graham said. "If you want to get a plane to be able to take off and not crash and everyone dies, you go and talk to an engineer and a physicist." But large language models could undermine that authority. "One of the big shifts that we're seeing - and that we're going to see more and more with the explosion of LLMs at the top of the Google results list and other search engines - is a really radical and quite painful shift for society in the relationship between information integrity and authority," he said. The world's most popular search engine is using AI to provide information that is sometimes "stripped of all context", "unsubstantiated" and "silly", including about health and nutrition. Google began rolling out artificial intelligence summaries at the top of search results for Australians in late 2024, which now often appear at the top of the page as an "AI overview" in response to a query. Instead of providing just a ranked list of links to sources as Google has in the past, it now combines that with a large language model trained on information from all over the internet to generate a conversational response to a query. "We've trained these models to uphold Search's high bar for quality," Google said when it announced the rollout at the time. But when ACM, the publisher of this masthead, asked experts to fact check four Google AI summaries, they raised concerns. The queries, or prompts, used were designed to reflect how a general user of Google might frame a search. This acknowledges most people come with preconceived ideas or advice about a topic, but not necessarily a lot of knowledge. The query: Vaping versus smoking Google's AI answer: Vaping (using e-cigarettes) is generally considered less harmful than smoking traditional cigarettes, but it's not entirely risk-free. While vaping exposes individuals to fewer toxic chemicals, it can still lead to various health problems, including addiction, lung damage, and potential long-term health effects. The expert's response: "I find it very concerning that this AI response is so stripped of all context, positioning vaping as 'less harmful' but for whom, under what circumstances?" Professor Becky Freeman said. "This response seems to assume that there are only two choices: smoking or vaping. The vast majority of people neither smoke nor vape," Professor Freeman, from the University of Sydney's School of Public Health said. While vaping may be "safer" in some limited circumstances, young people had a very poor understanding of nicotine addiction. "For young people, most of whom have never smoked, vaping is not a safer choice; the safer choice is to not vape, or smoke, at all," she said. The query: How bad are offshore wind farms Google's AI answer: Offshore wind farms have both positive and negative environmental impacts, with concerns primarily focused on marine life, particularly whales and other marine mammals. While they offer a cleaner energy source than fossil fuels, the construction and operation of these farms can disrupt marine ecosystems through noise pollution and potential habitat changes. The expert's response: "That particular answer is silly," Professor Andrew Blakers said. "Everything has good and bad points. In this case, the good/bad ratio is 10:1," the award-winning engineering professor said. Alongside the AI overview in this example, Google's top website link was to a blog post from the Australian Fishing Trade Association, which represents recreational fishers and is opposed to wind farms. Google maintains it pairs its traditional web page ranking system with the language model to maintain the integrity of AI responses, providing links to source sites alongside the overview. In future it could include links to sources directly within the summary. It said AI results were designed as a "jumping off point" for people to explore a topic through quality web links. "AI overviews are built to surface information that is backed up by web results, and include links to web content that supports the information presented in the overview," a Google spokesperson told ACM. Most Australians are worried about generative AI. Nearly 60 per cent of Australians were concerned specifically that AI could create harmful or fake content, according to the final digital platforms report from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC). More than half were worried about the accuracy of AI and almost 50 per cent were concerned about the lack of transparency about how AI arrives at its results. The ACCC wants the resources to monitor changes to generative AI across the global digital giants, which it says will spend more than US$250 billion developing the technology in 2025. The query: why McDonald's is good for you Google's AI answer: McDonald's can be a part of a balanced diet when consumed in moderation and as part of an overall healthy lifestyle. While not a source of optimal nutrition, McDonald's does offer some options that can be incorporated into a healthy eating pattern. For example, items like the Egg McMuffin, some salads, and fruit options can provide protein, vitamins, and fibre. However, it's crucial to be mindful of portion sizes, sodium content, and overall calorie intake when eating at McDonald's. The expert's response: "There are a number of unsubstantiated and meaningless statements in this AI response," public health Professor Christina Pollard said. "Credible, reliable dietary advice recommends to limit or avoid the consumption of fast food. "There is absolutely no recommendation to eat McDonald's types of food in moderation - this term is meaningless. "Dietary recommendations are about food groups, to eat and enjoy a 'wide variety of nutritious food every day'," the Curtin University Public Health Advocacy Institute director said. A healthy diet involved plenty of fruit and vegetables, milk and dairy, wholegrains, and lean meat or alternatives - and "specifically to limit or avoid high fat, high sugar, or high salt foods and drinks". "Overall, [the] McDonald's menu is counter to these recommendations," Professor Pollard said. She said dietitians would not recommend McDonald's as part of a healthy diet and suggested a better response to the query would be: "A diet based on McDonald's foods is not good for you." A spokesperson for Google said people could use the links provided to find more information. "On health-related queries where we do show a response, people can use the corroborating links to help inform their knowledge through their health journey," they told ACM. Large language models, sometimes referred to by their acronym LLMs, are trained on masses of data and can generate new content, such as text, videos, images and audio, in response to conversational queries or "prompts" from users. This is generally what people are referring to when they talk about publicly-available artificial intelligence services, including chatbots like ChatGPT. The most common uses of AI by consumers, according to the ACCC, were searching for information, summarising information, and reviewing text. About 79 per cent of Australians aged 14 to 17 had used generative AI for school or study, the commission's digital platforms report found. "The implications for search quality remain uncertain," the ACCC said in its report released on June 23. "As search engines incorporate this technology into their services in different ways, generative AI may lead to a new era of more relevant, efficient, and intuitive search. "It could also raise new challenges for consumers seeking credible, reliable, unbiased, and verifiable information." The query: when to consume energy drinks Google's AI answer: Energy drinks are often consumed to boost energy and alertness, making them popular for certain situations. They can be beneficial before exercise, during long-distance activities, and when tackling afternoon slumps or feeling tired. However, it's important to be mindful of the timing and potential side effects, especially regarding sleep. The expert's response: Public health expert Christina Pollard said energy drinks are not recommended. "Although energy drinks are heavily marketed, they are not recommended by health authorities," she said. "People can experience sleep issues, agitation, and lack of concentration. "There is no safe level of consumption for children or adolescents as compounds in these products (e.g., caffeine and taurine) can have adverse impacts on developing brain and psycho-motor functions, and social development." Associate Professor Timothy Graham, a digital media expert at Queensland University of Technology, said the "original" Google, which ranked web pages based on how authoritative they were on a particular subject, was a breakthrough in accessing knowledge. "It changed the world in some ways," he said. "It did have an integrity to it, because there was a certain transparency to the way that that worked - and it produced information that was genuinely useful for us." But generative AI was disrupting that system. "The problem with when you just have a large language model giving you the result at the top, you don't have that accountability," he said. Dr Graham said, while there were some opportunities, AI in search could change how we view expertise - and it could provide inaccurate and misleading information. A recent study of Google AI summaries across five US states found 43 per cent linked back to Google's own search results. "I think [it] places too much trust and too much hope and expectation in the technology, in large language models that we know have a number of systemic biases and flaws that we haven't solved yet," he said. "There is a concern, even just from that knowledge perspective, about not only the accuracy of the information, but the way that it kind of simulates and bullshits in ways that are going to, if not mislead people, certainly just pollute the internet." Until now modern society's approach to knowledge was to find an expert in the field to get quality information on a topic. "So if you've got a health dilemma, you go and talk to a doctor," Dr Graham said. "If you want to get a plane to be able to take off and not crash and everyone dies, you go and talk to an engineer and a physicist." But large language models could undermine that authority. "One of the big shifts that we're seeing - and that we're going to see more and more with the explosion of LLMs at the top of the Google results list and other search engines - is a really radical and quite painful shift for society in the relationship between information integrity and authority," he said.
The Age
18-05-2025
- Business
- The Age
60 tobacconists for every McDonald's: How Sydney's streets became consumed by smoke shops
'If it's so easy for a journalist and members of the public to go into these stores and purchase these things, why is it so difficult for prosecution and police to shut them down,' said Professor Becky Freeman, of the School of Public Health at the University of Sydney. 'And when you consider that less than 10 per cent of the Australian population smokes, it just doesn't add up.' Inner West mayor Darcy Byrne has been wrestling with the proliferation of tobacco shops in recent years as more than 824 specialty tobacco stores have opened up across his council area, often around schools. 'These shops have low overheads, they require a small space, but they're not prioritising improving the amenity of the neighbourhood or making a long-term commitment to the main street,' said Byrne. And yet for every new shop up for lease in the Newtown-Enmore area, at least one-third, if not half, of all inquiries are from tobacconists, said commercial agent David Cradock, of Wisebery Real Estate. Almost 40 per cent of tobacco consumption across Australia was illicit last year, according to FTI Consulting's latest industry-commissioned report Illicit Tobacco in Australia, due out mid-year. That's an increase of 28.6 per cent from the year prior. The tax office defines illicit tobacco as any related product, imported or homegrown, that has not paid its required customs duty, which makes that 40 per cent of blackmarket sales a significant hit to federal government coffers – $6.7 billion in lost excise duties last year alone. Tobacco's status as the federal government's fourth-largest source of revenue is projected to fall this year to be the seventh-largest revenue raiser. To combat it, federal and state governments have rolled out a raft of measures, new fines and extra funding, including last year's establishment of the Illicit Tobacco and E-Cigarette Commissioner role to coordinate efforts, and a nationwide ban on the sale of vapes outside of a pharmacy. None of this has appeared to work, raising questions about how effectively the laws are enforced, the impact it's having on high streets and risks posed by organised crime as it moves to corner the blackmarket. Policing the trade The job of enforcing our tobacco regulatory regime falls to NSW Health. To that end, last year health inspectors seized an estimated 13.2 million cigarettes and 3300 kilograms of other tobacco products worth an estimated $14.7 million – triple the value of related black market seizures in 2023. When vapes, e-liquids and nicotine pouches are included, that total street value of seized products rises to about $24 million, thanks to almost 2000 retail inspections and largely concentrated in illicit tobacco hotspots in metropolitan areas. If authorities are hoping to make up for the shortfall in excise duties, imposing fines is one way to do it. Last November a new regime of fines was introduced, increasing the penalty for anyone caught selling blackmarket tobacco products from $11,000 to $154,000, and up to $22,000 for selling to children. Higher penalties apply to corporate entities. Further, the number of authorised inspectors across the state is set to increase from 14 to 28, and a new licensing scheme is to be rolled out from July 1 that ties the licence to compliance. Shortly before this month's federal election, Health Minister Mark Butler weighed in, offering a further $156.7 million to tackle the tobacco black market to add to the $188.5 million promised early last year on a border force crackdown. The ABF is on the front line of the industrial-scale importation trade, averaging 141 detections a day of blackmarket tobacco products attempting to enter the country and seizing an estimated 1.86 billion cigarettes last year. It's not enough, according to Professor Freeman. It's a stance she shares with tobacco and convenience store industry representatives. 'The health department have increased their fines a lot, but compared with South Australia, it's still too little,' said Theo Foukkare, chief executive of the Australian Association of Convenience Stores. In November, the South Australian government introduced fines of up to $750,000 for a first offence of selling illicit tobacco and up to $1.1 million thereafter. It moved the enforcement and licensing responsibilities from the health department to Consumer and Business Services – the same department that oversees liquor and gaming. Industry and health experts differ on a rollback on government excise on cigarettes. Excise duties on cigarettes have increased almost threefold in the past decade, from 47¢ per stick in 2015 to $1.40 in March. 'It's pretty clear that when the excise was originally introduced, largely between 2010 and 2019, it had a material impact on adult smoking rates,' said Foukkare. 'But from 2019 to 2025, we've actually seen the legal market out-tax itself, and it's having the reverse effect on consumers who are exiting the legal market and entering the illegal market.' It's an issue likely to be raised in the coming year after Premier Chris Minns agreed last week to the opposition's terms for a parliamentary inquiry into the exploding illegal tobacco trade. Loading Shooters Fishers and Farmers MP Robert Borsak, who is set to chair the inquiry, said the automatic increase in excise duties year on year must indicate it's not working. Liberal MP Kellie Sloane, who has been pushing for the inquiry, said despite vapes being made illegal on the general market last year, they would also undoubtedly be raised given they are being sold with illegal tobacco. 'We also wanted to look at where responsibility for compliance falls because communities can't possibly be protected by 14 compliance officers across NSW,' said Sloane. 'Even when that's doubled, that's still no match for what they're up against, which is large-scale criminal enterprise.' Tobacco's winners To know who the biggest winners are behind the proliferation of tobacconists, look to tobacco tycoons such as Ahmad Sabbagh, Muh'd Al Zoubi and Ghaith Jaradat, who together have a part or shared interest in about 30 TSG Station tobacconists across Sydney. The dozens of franchises are all held in company names, often shared by one or two of them, making them among TSG's best customers, which is itself the largest tobacco franchise in the country. As far as TSG head office is concerned, shops run by Sabbagh, Jaradat and Al Zoubi are great operations: the stores are clean, fully stocked and set in prime locations such as Balmain, Potts Point, Bondi Beach and a dozen outlets across the CBD and inner city. Such success has not only made them recognisable names in the tobacco franchise business, but has been parlayed into impressive home real estate. Jaradat, 41, bought his first home less than two years ago, setting a then suburb record of $5.1 million for a derelict cottage in Malabar that is expected to be rebuilt into a more significant residence set on one of the suburb's best streets, opposite Randwick Golf Course and with views across Malabar Bay. Al Zoubi, 49, has also staked his name to a suburb record of his own. In 2022, he bought one of Bexley's best houses for a then suburb high of $4 million, buying a five-bedroom residence with marble finishes throughout, a swimming pool, spa and guest retreat. His initials feature on the property's ornate steel gate. The home of Sabbagh, 56, is no slouch either. The grand three-level mansion with basement garaging, pool and parkside views in Merrylands was built a few years ago on the site of what was a red brick house he bought in 2018. But such success has brought with it the attention of health authorities. All three men either declined to comment or didn't return calls and texts for this story, and their lawyer said he was unable to pass on queries, but court records show they have upcoming local court appearances to answer allegations of the sale of illicit tobacco products in their stores. Al Zoubi faces court this month to answer to six offences related to sale and display of a restricted substance in one of his TSG stores, and TSG Matraville co-owners Sabbagh and Jaradat are due to front local court to face allegations related to the sale of almost 200 packets of cigarettes that don't carry a health warning. If found guilty, Sabbagh knows the penalties have increased in recent years. In 2022, he pleaded guilty to two charges of selling nicotine vapes and was sentenced to a two-year conditional release order and ordered to pay the health department's $7000 legal costs and a $180 for the analysis of the vape. It came on the back of four warnings from NSW Health inspectors. Penalties for importation are far greater. A few months before Jaradat bought his Malabar home, he was slapped with one of the Therapeutic Goods Administration's largest fines for the illegal importation of nicotine vapes on four of Jaradat's corporate entities, totalling $588,840 after border force intercepted the importation of 379,600 vapes. The cases did not raise any involvement by Sabbagh, Jaradat and Al Zoubi in organised crime, and this masthead does not suggest there is any such connection. Crime concerns The so-called tobacco wars have been making headlines in Melbourne for the past two years, and while Sydney has been left comparatively unscathed, two firebombings this month in Auburn and Mount Pritchard have authorities on high alert. Wherever that commodity goes, violence follows, says Jason Box, commander of NSW Police's criminal groups squad, targets of which have become increasingly involved in illicit tobacco in the past year. Chief among them is the Alameddine crime gang, allegedly stealing millions of dollars worth of illicit tobacco from rival organised crime networks importing the product into the country. Strike Force Sheringham was launched last September to investigate the Alameddine network's involvement in the illicit tobacco market through a spate of violent robberies, starting in March last year, when the group allegedly stole $1.5 million worth of tobacco and $10,000 worth of cigarette papers from a Casula storage unit. Six months later, eight Alameddine members and associates were arrested over several successful and attempted robberies. Associates of KVT, a predominantly Fijian street gang linked to the Alameddines, were also arrested. In subsequent raids, detectives seized more than 1.4 tonnes of illegal tobacco, 600 illegal vapes worth around $600,000, and large amounts of cash from homes linked to the Alameddines. In January, the violence reached new heights when at least half a dozen Alameddine associates allegedly broke into a Condell Park storage unit and held three men hostage during an attempted tobacco robbery. When police found the men inside, they had been beaten and had their arms and legs bound, and one of them had a toe partially severed. It is not known who the tobacco was being stolen from or who had imported it. Lawyers for the three men charged over the incident – Ahamad Dudu, Mohamad Kaddour and Iafeta Fepuleai – say police have put forward no evidence establishing their clients' links to the Alameddine clan. Police are yet to identify the rival organised crime networks being targeted by the Alameddines, but believe the crime family is just one of the key players in the illicit tobacco market. For now, Box said they have stemmed the violence linked to illicit tobacco. But while NSW Police is at the forefront of the fight against organised crime, it has actively distanced itself from policing illicit tobacco. 'Our involvement is primarily about the acts of violence that was used by these people to take the tobacco,' Box says. 'I think our system and our response is adequate, and we'll keep maintaining that.' Lighting up High St Darcy Byrne has come up with his own proposal to counter the spread of tobacconists in the Inner West. Last year he wrote to Planning Minister Paul Scully to urge him to look at amending the planning regulations to require tobacconists to lodge a development application. 'As it is now, it's just a change-of-use application, so any main street business can be flipped into a tobacco store and we don't really have a right of refusal,' Byrne said. Loading 'If a DA was required and had to articulate a social impact assessment on the local community, then there would be grounds for refusal if there are already other tobacconists nearby, and particularly if they are near a primary school.' Anything that addresses the issue would be welcomed by James Cottam, commercial property manager at Richardson & Wrench Newtown, who says the influx of tobacconists locally is distorting the commercial real estate market. As more tobacconists come in, they're offering above market rents, which is artificially inflating the market and making it harder for other businesses to compete, said Cottam. 'I'm obligated to pass that higher offer on to the owner, but I urge them not to accept it.' And after recently reported firebombing of tobacconists in Sydney, the Insurance Council of Australia has confirmed that some insurers are taking this into account when pricing insurance. 'Shabby shop fit-outs are part of it,' says Cradock, adding that the numbers don't stack up. 'There's some sort of monkey business at play there.'
Sydney Morning Herald
18-05-2025
- Business
- Sydney Morning Herald
60 tobacconists for every McDonald's: How Sydney's streets became consumed by smoke shops
'If it's so easy for a journalist and members of the public to go into these stores and purchase these things, why is it so difficult for prosecution and police to shut them down,' said Professor Becky Freeman, of the School of Public Health at the University of Sydney. 'And when you consider that less than 10 per cent of the Australian population smokes, it just doesn't add up.' Inner West mayor Darcy Byrne has been wrestling with the proliferation of tobacco shops in recent years as more than 824 specialty tobacco stores have opened up across his council area, often around schools. 'These shops have low overheads, they require a small space, but they're not prioritising improving the amenity of the neighbourhood or making a long-term commitment to the main street,' said Byrne. And yet for every new shop up for lease in the Newtown-Enmore area, at least one-third, if not half, of all inquiries are from tobacconists, said commercial agent David Cradock, of Wisebery Real Estate. Almost 40 per cent of tobacco consumption across Australia was illicit last year, according to FTI Consulting's latest industry-commissioned report Illicit Tobacco in Australia, due out mid-year. That's an increase of 28.6 per cent from the year prior. The tax office defines illicit tobacco as any related product, imported or homegrown, that has not paid its required customs duty, which makes that 40 per cent of blackmarket sales a significant hit to federal government coffers – $6.7 billion in lost excise duties last year alone. Tobacco's status as the federal government's fourth-largest source of revenue is projected to fall this year to be the seventh-largest revenue raiser. To combat it, federal and state governments have rolled out a raft of measures, new fines and extra funding, including last year's establishment of the Illicit Tobacco and E-Cigarette Commissioner role to coordinate efforts, and a nationwide ban on the sale of vapes outside of a pharmacy. None of this has appeared to work, raising questions about how effectively the laws are enforced, the impact it's having on high streets and risks posed by organised crime as it moves to corner the blackmarket. Policing the trade The job of enforcing our tobacco regulatory regime falls to NSW Health. To that end, last year health inspectors seized an estimated 13.2 million cigarettes and 3300 kilograms of other tobacco products worth an estimated $14.7 million – triple the value of related black market seizures in 2023. When vapes, e-liquids and nicotine pouches are included, that total street value of seized products rises to about $24 million, thanks to almost 2000 retail inspections and largely concentrated in illicit tobacco hotspots in metropolitan areas. If authorities are hoping to make up for the shortfall in excise duties, imposing fines is one way to do it. Last November a new regime of fines was introduced, increasing the penalty for anyone caught selling blackmarket tobacco products from $11,000 to $154,000, and up to $22,000 for selling to children. Higher penalties apply to corporate entities. Further, the number of authorised inspectors across the state is set to increase from 14 to 28, and a new licensing scheme is to be rolled out from July 1 that ties the licence to compliance. Shortly before this month's federal election, Health Minister Mark Butler weighed in, offering a further $156.7 million to tackle the tobacco black market to add to the $188.5 million promised early last year on a border force crackdown. The ABF is on the front line of the industrial-scale importation trade, averaging 141 detections a day of blackmarket tobacco products attempting to enter the country and seizing an estimated 1.86 billion cigarettes last year. It's not enough, according to Professor Freeman. It's a stance she shares with tobacco and convenience store industry representatives. 'The health department have increased their fines a lot, but compared with South Australia, it's still too little,' said Theo Foukkare, chief executive of the Australian Association of Convenience Stores. In November, the South Australian government introduced fines of up to $750,000 for a first offence of selling illicit tobacco and up to $1.1 million thereafter. It moved the enforcement and licensing responsibilities from the health department to Consumer and Business Services – the same department that oversees liquor and gaming. Industry and health experts differ on a rollback on government excise on cigarettes. Excise duties on cigarettes have increased almost threefold in the past decade, from 47¢ per stick in 2015 to $1.40 in March. 'It's pretty clear that when the excise was originally introduced, largely between 2010 and 2019, it had a material impact on adult smoking rates,' said Foukkare. 'But from 2019 to 2025, we've actually seen the legal market out-tax itself, and it's having the reverse effect on consumers who are exiting the legal market and entering the illegal market.' It's an issue likely to be raised in the coming year after Premier Chris Minns agreed last week to the opposition's terms for a parliamentary inquiry into the exploding illegal tobacco trade. Loading Shooters Fishers and Farmers MP Robert Borsak, who is set to chair the inquiry, said the automatic increase in excise duties year on year must indicate it's not working. Liberal MP Kellie Sloane, who has been pushing for the inquiry, said despite vapes being made illegal on the general market last year, they would also undoubtedly be raised given they are being sold with illegal tobacco. 'We also wanted to look at where responsibility for compliance falls because communities can't possibly be protected by 14 compliance officers across NSW,' said Sloane. 'Even when that's doubled, that's still no match for what they're up against, which is large-scale criminal enterprise.' Tobacco's winners To know who the biggest winners are behind the proliferation of tobacconists, look to tobacco tycoons such as Ahmad Sabbagh, Muh'd Al Zoubi and Ghaith Jaradat, who together have a part or shared interest in about 30 TSG Station tobacconists across Sydney. The dozens of franchises are all held in company names, often shared by one or two of them, making them among TSG's best customers, which is itself the largest tobacco franchise in the country. As far as TSG head office is concerned, shops run by Sabbagh, Jaradat and Al Zoubi are great operations: the stores are clean, fully stocked and set in prime locations such as Balmain, Potts Point, Bondi Beach and a dozen outlets across the CBD and inner city. Such success has not only made them recognisable names in the tobacco franchise business, but has been parlayed into impressive home real estate. Jaradat, 41, bought his first home less than two years ago, setting a then suburb record of $5.1 million for a derelict cottage in Malabar that is expected to be rebuilt into a more significant residence set on one of the suburb's best streets, opposite Randwick Golf Course and with views across Malabar Bay. Al Zoubi, 49, has also staked his name to a suburb record of his own. In 2022, he bought one of Bexley's best houses for a then suburb high of $4 million, buying a five-bedroom residence with marble finishes throughout, a swimming pool, spa and guest retreat. His initials feature on the property's ornate steel gate. The home of Sabbagh, 56, is no slouch either. The grand three-level mansion with basement garaging, pool and parkside views in Merrylands was built a few years ago on the site of what was a red brick house he bought in 2018. But such success has brought with it the attention of health authorities. All three men either declined to comment or didn't return calls and texts for this story, and their lawyer said he was unable to pass on queries, but court records show they have upcoming local court appearances to answer allegations of the sale of illicit tobacco products in their stores. Al Zoubi faces court this month to answer to six offences related to sale and display of a restricted substance in one of his TSG stores, and TSG Matraville co-owners Sabbagh and Jaradat are due to front local court to face allegations related to the sale of almost 200 packets of cigarettes that don't carry a health warning. If found guilty, Sabbagh knows the penalties have increased in recent years. In 2022, he pleaded guilty to two charges of selling nicotine vapes and was sentenced to a two-year conditional release order and ordered to pay the health department's $7000 legal costs and a $180 for the analysis of the vape. It came on the back of four warnings from NSW Health inspectors. Penalties for importation are far greater. A few months before Jaradat bought his Malabar home, he was slapped with one of the Therapeutic Goods Administration's largest fines for the illegal importation of nicotine vapes on four of Jaradat's corporate entities, totalling $588,840 after border force intercepted the importation of 379,600 vapes. The cases did not raise any involvement by Sabbagh, Jaradat and Al Zoubi in organised crime, and this masthead does not suggest there is any such connection. Crime concerns The so-called tobacco wars have been making headlines in Melbourne for the past two years, and while Sydney has been left comparatively unscathed, two firebombings this month in Auburn and Mount Pritchard have authorities on high alert. Wherever that commodity goes, violence follows, says Jason Box, commander of NSW Police's criminal groups squad, targets of which have become increasingly involved in illicit tobacco in the past year. Chief among them is the Alameddine crime gang, allegedly stealing millions of dollars worth of illicit tobacco from rival organised crime networks importing the product into the country. Strike Force Sheringham was launched last September to investigate the Alameddine network's involvement in the illicit tobacco market through a spate of violent robberies, starting in March last year, when the group allegedly stole $1.5 million worth of tobacco and $10,000 worth of cigarette papers from a Casula storage unit. Six months later, eight Alameddine members and associates were arrested over several successful and attempted robberies. Associates of KVT, a predominantly Fijian street gang linked to the Alameddines, were also arrested. In subsequent raids, detectives seized more than 1.4 tonnes of illegal tobacco, 600 illegal vapes worth around $600,000, and large amounts of cash from homes linked to the Alameddines. In January, the violence reached new heights when at least half a dozen Alameddine associates allegedly broke into a Condell Park storage unit and held three men hostage during an attempted tobacco robbery. When police found the men inside, they had been beaten and had their arms and legs bound, and one of them had a toe partially severed. It is not known who the tobacco was being stolen from or who had imported it. Lawyers for the three men charged over the incident – Ahamad Dudu, Mohamad Kaddour and Iafeta Fepuleai – say police have put forward no evidence establishing their clients' links to the Alameddine clan. Police are yet to identify the rival organised crime networks being targeted by the Alameddines, but believe the crime family is just one of the key players in the illicit tobacco market. For now, Box said they have stemmed the violence linked to illicit tobacco. But while NSW Police is at the forefront of the fight against organised crime, it has actively distanced itself from policing illicit tobacco. 'Our involvement is primarily about the acts of violence that was used by these people to take the tobacco,' Box says. 'I think our system and our response is adequate, and we'll keep maintaining that.' Lighting up High St Darcy Byrne has come up with his own proposal to counter the spread of tobacconists in the Inner West. Last year he wrote to Planning Minister Paul Scully to urge him to look at amending the planning regulations to require tobacconists to lodge a development application. 'As it is now, it's just a change-of-use application, so any main street business can be flipped into a tobacco store and we don't really have a right of refusal,' Byrne said. Loading 'If a DA was required and had to articulate a social impact assessment on the local community, then there would be grounds for refusal if there are already other tobacconists nearby, and particularly if they are near a primary school.' Anything that addresses the issue would be welcomed by James Cottam, commercial property manager at Richardson & Wrench Newtown, who says the influx of tobacconists locally is distorting the commercial real estate market. As more tobacconists come in, they're offering above market rents, which is artificially inflating the market and making it harder for other businesses to compete, said Cottam. 'I'm obligated to pass that higher offer on to the owner, but I urge them not to accept it.' And after recently reported firebombing of tobacconists in Sydney, the Insurance Council of Australia has confirmed that some insurers are taking this into account when pricing insurance. 'Shabby shop fit-outs are part of it,' says Cradock, adding that the numbers don't stack up. 'There's some sort of monkey business at play there.'
