This is the best summary I could come up with:

Lobby groups representing convenience and grocery stores have refused to tell a Senate inquiry how much they receive in tobacco and vaping industry funding.

Neither the chief executive of the Australasian Association of Convenience Stores (AACS), Theo Foukkare, or the chief executive of Master Grocers Australia (MGA), David Inall, disclosed the value of the funding their groups received from the vaping or tobacco industries, despite being asked to provide any such information in conflict-of-interest statements prior to attending.

During the inquiry’s public hearings, Foukkare and Inall said proposed tobacco and vaping reforms would fuel the illicit markets, a claim rejected by health experts who gave evidence.

Foukkare also told the inquiry chair, Senator Marielle Smith, that the purpose of the hearing “is to talk about the bill, not the small amount of members that contribute to our organisations quite broadly”.

Foukkare told Guardian Australia that the reason the details could not be disclosed was “due to the threats posed against lawful retailers and their staff from the illegal trade”.

Inall said the MGA “proactively disclosed in our opening statement to the inquiry that three tobacco companies were part of a larger group of corporate partners”.

The original article contains 828 words, the summary contains 195 words. Saved 76%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!