Marrickville moving smoke-free

Marrickville Council has welcomed the State Government’s new smoke-free reforms, but believes they may be difficult to enforce.

The changes to the Smoke-Free Environment Act 2000 came into effect on January 7, and include restrictions on smoking in public playgrounds, sporting grounds and train stations.

“I think they’ll be challenging as far as actually trying to police them. Marrickille Council has had issues with people still smoking in outdoor dining areas and things like that,” said Marrickville Mayor Victor Macri.

The new reforms plan for the banning of smoking in commercial outdoor dining areas by 2015. Marrickville Council has enforced smoke-free policies similar to State Government reforms since 2011.

Mr Macri said the policy has been difficult for some shopkeepers in Marrickville and will continue to be so under the new laws.

“It has been challenging for some shopkeepers, particularly those with outdoor, alfresco dining. There’s that expectation that in City of Sydney they could smoke and then they can’t. The onus falls back on the actual shopkeeper who, in tough economic times, has to go out and tell his customers ‘you can’t do this’,” he said.

“It’s always going to be a challenging thing and difficult because, on the one hand, governments collect excise taxes from smokers yet people think it’s an infringement on their personal rights.

“If they want to smoke they feel they should be able to smoke. It’s a challenging issue but I don’t think smoking is the way of the future and I think people should realise that.”

Liberal Councillor Mark Gardiner said the reforms will be positive for the community.

“I think they’re a good step. They’re sensible reforms that continue to protect the health of children and others from secondary smoke. I think there’s a general acceptance, even by smokers, that these kind of conditions are the way things are,” he said.

Both councillors agreed the reforms will provide more uniformity across government areas, which should lead to improved enforceability.

“I think it’s a good idea to make sure the position’s harmonised across local government areas,” said Mr Gardiner.

Mr Macri said there was confusion about which laws applied in which area prior to the government reforms.

“It is a bit hard when it is a council thing, when it’s done council by council, because it changes from area to area. One side of the street is one way and the other side of the street is another council area, and they have another set of regulations,” he said.

“This coming in gives you a blanketing effect. People will get used to that because it’s easier to enforce and it’s more uniform. I think that’s the clearest thing that it does bring us: uniformity. It puts everyone on the same page.”

20-year-old Newtown resident Jordan Smith said smoking legislation should encompass different rules from night to day.

“It’s a completely different environment at night and you have a completely different set of people out,” he said.

“It’s good it’s not just a blanket ban. There are areas that are specifically mentioned and most of these make sense.”

By James Bullen