Opposition plans to slash tobacco excise if elected | ABC News Top Stories

The federal Opposition says its plan for an 80 per cent cut to the tobacco excise will boost the budget by $2 billion dollars a year. The Coalition has announced that if elected, it would tackle the booming black market by slashing the excise on a packet of legal cigarettes from about $30 to $6. But, Treasurer Jim Chalmers says that while the government recognises the "really serious challenge" presented by illicit tobacco, it remains opposed to cutting the excise. Russian state media has published what it claims are prison recordings of accused spies Kira and Igor Korolev who are currently locked-up in Queensland. The ABC has been unable to independently verify the audio in which Ms Korolev can purportedly be heard saying she "made a mistake" when she "migrated to a different country" and wanted to return to Russia. In Queensland, it's illegal for media to interview prisoners without permission. Queensland Corrective Services said approval had not been given. New research has revealed almost one third of lesson time in Australian classrooms is being lost to student misbehaviour. The report "Classrooms in Crisis" by the Centre for Independent Studies is based on interviews with about 400 teachers from across Australia. It's found teachers reported an average of 9 minutes out of every 30 minutes being lost to classroom disruption. For more news at any time you can follow the ABC News Top Stories podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices