Updated ,first published
Fremantle Mayor Ben Lawver knew something had to change after a hunt for a pack of cigarettes during a night out on the town went up in smoke.
Having set out on a mission to track down a particular brand of cigarettes for a friend, Lawver was offered illegal tobacco not once, but six times at convenience stores in the port city’s CBD.
Speaking to this masthead the day after Fremantle councillors passed a motion to amend the city’s planning laws – forcing any prospective convenience stores to lodge development applications and advertise publicly – Lawver detailed his first-hand experience of the illegal tobacco trade that has become the bane of Cappuccino Strip regulars.
“Before the notice of motion was put forward, and part of what sparked it for me, was I actually have a friend who smokes cigarettes, and they’re very particular about their brand,” Lawver said.
“We were at a pub, and they ran out of tobacco … I went just right across the street from the pub where there was a convenience store, and said, ‘Do you have cigarettes?’
“And they said yes, and pulled something out from under the counter and said, ‘$40 cash’, and it was a pouch of tobacco.
“That wasn’t the brand [I was looking for] so I asked, ‘Do you have this brand?’, and they said: ‘No, this is the only stuff we have.’
“So I left, and I wound up going to six shops, and of the six, they only offered me illegal tobacco.”
At Wednesday night’s council meeting, councillors unanimously voted to make it harder for convenience stores to proliferate in the port city’s CBD amid a crackdown on illegal tobacco and vape sales.
The updated planning laws will force future convenience store owners to lodge a publicly advertised development application.
“I think it’s really great. We as a council are on board with progressing this as quickly as possible,” Lawver said.
“It’s a very simple change to the scheme. We’re only changing four letters, but those four letters will have a really big impact on our ability to control the spread of these convenience stores across our city.”
Lawver said he originally put forward a notice of motion in August 2025 after residents raised concerns over the number of convenience stores in the CBD.
“This was first brought to our attention as a council in November 2024 by members of the community … by August 2025 the number of those stores had actually doubled in our CBD,” he said.
“When we first started on the scheme amendment in February, I was told there were 16 convenient shops in our CBD area.
“But just since then, there’s been one that’s opened half a block away from council chambers, and there’s another one that, if it isn’t open already, looks like it’s going to open this weekend just a couple of blocks up High Street, so we’d be up to 18.
“It is very much overkill. So I think having a little bit of control on this for a period of time is a very much-needed thing.”
Fremantle councillor Melanie Clark told Wednesday night’s meeting she was aware of 18 convenience stores in the area, and believed the planning law change “can’t come soon enough”.
“I’m really looking forward to these laws being enacted so that Superintendent Steve Post and his team can swing into action to not only start clearing them out [but also] create some empty spaces for some new businesses to move in,” she said.
“I’m also very pleased that what we are putting forward here will support all of that action.”
A report to council ahead of the meeting pointed to illegal tobacco sales being the main cause for concern from residents.
“It is understood that most of the concern regarding convenience stores stems from the fact that many of them allegedly sell tobacco products illegally or under the counter,” it said.
The report noted it was not the city’s intention to establish whether the current stores do, or do not, sell illicit tobacco products.
“Though it has been reported that a number of these types of stores throughout Australia have been accused of selling black market cigarettes,” it said.
“This is a particular concern due to rising gang activity around this market, as has been reported in Perth and elsewhere, and the possibility for arson or other such attacks in the City of Fremantle occurring as part of one gang attacking another.”
Lawver said he could sympathise with people opting to purchase the cheaper illegal tobacco amid the cost of living crisis.
“I think a pouch of tobacco is around $120, to have it go down to $40, that’s a huge difference for folks that are doing it tough, and I completely understand that,” he said.
“But in Fremantle, we have close to 18 of these shops, and it’s just killing the vibe out here to go, we need to have some sort of grasp on it.”
While councillors may have supported the motion to change the planning law, Lawver said it could take up to 18 months to come into effect due to bureaucratic delays.
Meanwhile, WA Health has handed out 21 infringements to retailers in Fremantle for selling tobacco contrary to packaging rules, selling without a licence, or contravention of other licensing rules.
“Our compliance team is now preparing to implement strengthened laws that recently passed WA Parliament, to keep the community safe from these harmful substances,” a WA Health spokesperson said.
Last month, the state government passed amendments to the Tobacco Products Control Act 2006 to increase penalties for illegal tobacco sales.
“The amendments … mean WA has some of the strongest penalties in Australia for businesses caught selling illicit tobacco and vapes,” the government said in March.
The maximum penalty for possession of a large commercial quantity of illicit tobacco and vaping products is $4.2 million for an individual or $21 million for a company, and 15 years imprisonment.
Also introduced as part of the act are store closure orders, which aim to ensure that businesses supplying illegal products will be shut down while investigations take place.
“This a major step forward in protecting Western Australians and driving out the dangerous illicit tobacco and vaping trade,” Premier Roger Cook said.
“Our strengthened laws reflect what the community has been consistently calling for – tougher action to get this harmful trade off our streets.”
As of March, more than 20 people had been charged with more than 60 offences as part of Taskforce Maverick.
The state government also plans to introduce more intense and broader laws to crackdown on illegal tobacco sales later in the year.
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