[Intl-tobacco] Australia: War on smokers moves outdoors

[Rob Weissman]

War on smokers moves outdoors
The Daily Telegraph
July 27, 2004

By MARK SKELSEY and KATE MURRAY

ALREADY councils have moved to ban smoking on beaches and sporting fields =
=88
now outdoor diners are next in line to be forced to stub out their cigs.
Warringah Council will tonight decide whether to adopt a policy which bans
smoking in outdoor restaurant seating areas based on public land like
footpaths. This decision, if adopted, is believed to be a NSW first and
will continue the trend of cracking down on smokers.

Councils including Mosman, Manly, Pittwater, Liverpool and Canada Bay have
already passed motions supporting a ban on smoking on beaches or sporting
fields. But none of them are understood to be enforcing the rule. Councils
in Sydney's north have decided to form a working group to ensure a
"consistent approach" to enforcement of smoking bans.

Now a report which is set to go before Warringah's administrator Dick
Persson goes a step further. It argues that smoking should be banned not
only children's playgrounds, seating areas at sports grounds and on
patrolled beaches, but also in "al fresco" restaurant dining areas. With
most Sydney councils supporting outdoor dining on widened footpaths or in
parks, such a ban could have a widespread impact.

Mr Persson is being urged to adopt this policy, which will then be exhibite=
d
for discussion and public consultation. "In particular outdoor situations,
where people are close together and/or children are recreating then the
direct impacts [of smoking] are increased," the report by the council's
policy division says.

The council policy also involves discouraging sports coaches or players fro=
m
smoking at training, along with smoking during half-time.

Restaurant and Catering Association chief executive Robert Goldman said the
council was making a bad move by unilaterally acting to ban smoking in "al
fresco" areas. He said it was unfair to allow smoking internally in hotels
and clubs but ban people smoking on a footpath.

He explained: "It makes it difficult for a chain of restaurants to operate,
when a single council wants to enforce this rule. And once the councils
accept money for restaurants to use their land, the land is no longer reall=
y
public land." Mr Goldman said restaurants had been smoke-free inside since
1995.

Yesterday there was a mixed reaction to the ban on Sydney's northern
beaches. Smokers Phil Tirrell and Lois Collins, both from England, were
unhappy about the proposed ban yesterday but conceded they could see the
sense in it. "I think it would be really annoying," Ms Collins, 24, said.

Mr Tirrell, 22, said there was no need to stop people smoking outdoors. He
said: "As long as there are separate sections between smokers and
non-smokers I don't see the problem." But their non-smoking friend, Sam,
who didn't want to give her surname, said it was a good idea. She said:
"Smoking is disgusting."