Smoking ban snuffed out
Smokers in Sydney can continue to puff away on patios and at café tables after the council rejected a motion to expand the city’s smoke-free policy. At the last council meeting, Greens Councillor Chris Harris introduced a motion to ban smoking at outdoor dining areas, bus shelter and taxi ranks but the Lord Mayor Clover Moore MP and four other councillors shut down the option.
“The reason she gave was nonsense,” Cr Harris said. “It was that it’s a state government matter. If that’s the case then why does Clover talk about public transport? We’ve got big resources here at the city devoted to public transport planning but it’s a state government matter.”
The city’s current policy makes it illegal to smoke at playgrounds and swimming pools but allows for smoking in all other outdoor public areas.
“My suggestion is that she doesn’t want to upset the applecart, something to do with the election,” Cr Harris said.
A City of Sydney spokesperson said: “There are practical difficulties of implementing general bans in congested areas of the inner city, particularly in relation to enforcement and the amount of signage required.”
Chief Executive of NSW Heart Foundation, Tony Thirlwell, said the policy does not require policing. “It hasn’t proven to be difficult to enforce. Some of these councils have done it for years now. It’s not a policing sort of thing, it’s a self-policing arrangement with some signage. Most people are quite respectful.”
Costs are also minimal, he said. “There’s a bit of signage required but it’s not a very expensive exercise to do to protect the community.”
“I think they’re probably concerned with upsetting the commercial interests in Sydney . . . It’s disappointing that Clover Moore didn’t grab that leadership role,” he said.
“Manly showed some years ago that commercial interests actually benefit from a smoke-free policy. More people will choose to dine, particularly with their families, if they know they’re dining in an area that doesn’t have second-hand smoke, or cigarettes or ashtrays on the table.”
Spokesperson for Action Smoking Health Australia (Ashaust), Stafford Sanders said Queensland implemented a ban on smoking in outdoor dining areas in 2006. “We’ve been advocating with the NSW government for literally a decade, other states have done it. NSW is lagging behind the back of the pack.”
In addition to Queensland, the ACT, Northern Territory, Tasmania and Western Australia have adopted smoke-free legislation for all dining areas.
To date, 31 of the 152 local councils in NSW have banned smoking in alfresco areas including North Sydney, Leichhardt, Marrickville, Waverley, Mosman, Manly and Hornsby.
Mr Sanders represents 48 NGOs which includes SmokeFree Australia and Protecting Children from Tobacco. The support for the ban is to protect children and hospitality staff, he said. “This is a very big OH&S issue. There are dining staff being exposed daily and repeatedly to significant amounts of tobacco smoke. The evidence is just ramping up and up and up in terms of the impact of low doses of tobacco smoke including outdoor areas.”
“It’s a toxic, carcinogenic airborne contaminant – it’s not an argument about personal habits and individual freedom.”
By Deborah Erwin
