On Wednesday morning, he put something very different on Bluesky.

In a public thread from the Geelan Mitchell Media account at @victoriannews.com.au, Geelan described buying a packet of cigarettes from a smoke shop for cash. He gave the price as $14, compared it with the supermarket price of about $45, and then repeatedly made clear he knew the cheaper product was not legitimate.

His own words are the story here.

Archived Bluesky screenshots

The Bluesky posts have been archived as screenshots rather than relying on live Bluesky links. The full thread and individual posts are linked in the sources below; the most pertinent admission is reproduced here because it is the point of the article.

• He said there were four illicit smoke shops within walking distance, selling packs of 20 cigarettes for $15.
• He said he could not remember the last time he bought legitimate cigarettes.
• He said he had been doing this for “over a decade now at least”.
• He later wrote: “Ain’t bought legitimate smokes for over a decade” and “I haven’t bought legitimate smokes for over a decade myself.”

That is not a confused consumer accidentally buying the wrong packet once. That is a long-running, knowing admission of buying from the illicit tobacco market.

The black market he says he uses

Victoria’s illegal tobacco market is not a harmless discount scheme. It is the same market authorities have been trying to shut down because it is tied to organised crime, arson, extortion, tax evasion and violence.

Victoria’s tobacco licensing regime has been in force since 1 February 2026. Tobacco Licensing Victoria says businesses selling tobacco in Victoria need a licence, and businesses that keep selling without one are committing an offence. The regulator also says Victoria has some of Australia’s strongest penalties for illicit tobacco offences: selling illicit tobacco can mean fines of up to $376,380 or up to 15 years jail for individuals, and more than $1.8 million for companies.

The enforcement page is written for sellers and tobacco businesses, not for Geelan personally as a smoker. That distinction matters. But it does not rescue the behaviour he described. He did not claim to be confused about what he was buying. He contrasted “legitimate smokes” with “illicit” ones, named local illicit shops, and explained why he chooses the black-market product.

In other words, Geelan has not merely commented on Victoria’s illicit tobacco problem. He has publicly placed himself inside the demand side of it.

This was posted while enforcement is escalating

The timing makes the thread even stranger.

Only days ago, the Australian Border Force announced Operation TEMPEST, a joint operation across Victoria and Tasmania involving the ABF, Victoria Police, Tobacco Licensing Victoria, the TGA and other agencies. The operation targeted 20 locations, including retailers, warehouses, post depots and Melbourne international flights.

The Victorian results alone were not small: more than 1.6 million illicit cigarettes, 1.8 tonnes of loose-leaf tobacco, more than 5,400 vaping devices, 11,107 nicotine pouches, 2,013 nitrous oxide canisters and more than $71,000 cash. Seven people of interest were found with known links to the illicit tobacco trade.

ABF Commander Greg Dowse was blunt about the wider damage, saying the purchase of cheap, under-the-counter cigarettes funds other serious crimes, including drug trafficking and violence.

That is the system Geelan says he has been feeding for years.

The “everyone does it” defence

Geelan’s thread tries to turn the admission into an argument about tax and pricing. His point is simple enough: legal cigarettes are expensive, illegal cigarettes are cheaper, so people buy the cheaper ones.

There is a policy debate there. Tobacco excise, prohibition-style incentives, criminal profit margins and enforcement failure are all fair subjects. Plenty of Victorians are angry about the current mess.

But none of that changes the admission.

Geelan did not write, “I worry people might be buying illegal tobacco.” He wrote that he bought a packet from a smoke shop that morning for cash. He did not write, “Some people haven’t bought legitimate cigarettes for years.” He wrote that he had not bought legitimate cigarettes for over a decade.

This is the same person who runs a news-branded account and routinely comments on crime, government failure and public safety. Yet when the crime economy is convenient, he appears to treat it as a household budgeting tip.

What Geelan admitted

The narrow, fair reading is this:

• Geelan publicly says he buys cigarettes from smoke shops for cash at prices far below the legal retail price.
• He publicly describes nearby shops as illicit smoke shops.
• He publicly says he cannot remember the last time he bought legitimate cigarettes.
• He publicly says this has gone on for over a decade.

Whether enforcement bodies would treat a buyer’s public admission as something to investigate is up to them. The documented fact is that Geelan has posted a first-person account of knowingly participating in the illicit tobacco market, at the exact time Victoria is trying to choke that market off.

For a man who likes to present himself as a news operator, that is quite a confession.

Sources

• Geelan Mitchell Media / Victorian News Bluesky posts, 1 July 2026, archived as screenshots: 02:13 UTC screenshot, 02:15 UTC screenshot, 02:18 UTC screenshot, 02:19 UTC screenshot, 02:22 UTC thread screenshot, and 02:28 UTC screenshot.
• Australian Border Force: Operation TEMPEST sweeps VIC and TAS in major illicit tobacco and vaping crackdown, 26 June 2026.
• Tobacco Licensing Victoria, updated 4 February 2026.
• Tobacco Licensing Victoria enforcement powers, including 2026-2027 penalties.
• Victorian Department of Health: Making a report or complaint – tobacco reform.