Burning out: how Australia’s bid to cut smoking rates exploded into suburban tobacco wars

There are three tobacconists in a strip of no more than a dozen shops on the same side of a street in Melbourne’s west. Earlier this year, someone reached between the metal bars protecting one shop, smashed the front window and flung a molotov cocktail inside.

Eight days later, a driver rammed the security screen at a second store and tried to set it alight before fleeing. A jerry can was left on the street as if in homage to the failed arson.

Such fires at such stores have occurred on high streets across Victoria over the past 18 months. In most cases, the businesses are still trading, neon signs flashing and customers coming and going.

There is no indication they were so recently embroiled in a fight between organised crime groups that is threatening one of Australia’s signature public health achievements: reducing the rate of smoking. Arson attacks across four states have left the federal government in a particularly invidious position: wedged between underworld figures and big tobacco companies.

While the firebombings – of which there have been more than 120 since the start of last year – have captured attention, there has been little consideration of how the problem of illicit tobacco built over the past decade during a time Australia was becoming a world leader in restricting tobacco use.

Nearly 30 people were contacted for this story. None suggested maintaining the status quo.

Many acknowledged the bind the government was in: if it blinks on the excise for legal tobacco and make the illicit market less valuable, it would probably improve the bottom line for multinational tobacco companies.

Moderators protect us from the worst of the internet. That comes at huge personal cost

Unless you’re a moderator for a local community group discussing garbage collections or dog park etiquette, you are unlikely to fully understand the sheer volume and scale of abuse directed at people online.

But when social media moderation and community management is part and parcel of your daily work, the toll on people and their loved ones can be enormous. Journalists, often early in their careers, can be on the receiving end of torrents of abuse.

If they come from culturally or linguistically diverse backgrounds, that reluctance to report can be even higher than other colleagues.

There’s growing employer concern about how moderating confronting content can affect people’s wellbeing. Employers also have a duty to keep their staff safe at work, including online.

The ABC wanted to understand what this looked like in practice. Its internal survey data shows just how bad the problem has become for moderators who are employed to keep audience members safe when contributing to online discussions.