Smokers face further restrictions

Leichhardt LGA is to ban smoking in alfresco dining areas across the municipality, after a vote at Council approved the measure.

The measure, first put forward by Independent councillor John Stamolis in April 2009, called for a ban in a bid to protect patrons and passers-by from the effects of secondhand smoke.

Cr Stamolis said walkways on main boulevards were public spaces and therefore should be able to be used by the whole community, not just smokers.

“Outdoor dining areas, particularly on footpaths, aren’t just for smokers, they’re for everyone. If eighty-five percent of people in our community aren’t smokers, we should accommodate those people,” he said.

Liberal Councillor Gordon Weiss, however, expressed doubts about Mr Stamolis’s hard line, saying that unless legislation on smoking was uniform across the state, it could potentially damage local businesses, driving their smoker patrons into the café districts of neighbouring councils.

“Smoking is not illegal. A lot of people, particularly the Italians who use Norton Street, have a cigarette with their coffee. It’s just the way it’s done,” Mr Weiss said.

Mr Weiss said he would like to see a more circumspect approach, giving businesses the choice to introduce smoking bans in outdoor areas if they so choose.

“It should be voluntary, not mandatory,” he said.

Under this softer proposal, put up by the Council in mid March, the Council would have invested $5,000 in providing signage, table signs and stickers for those restaurants who chose to promote and regulate smoke-free zones.

But Mr Stamolis said this ‘soft’ approach was tantamount to doing nothing. “That’s dodging the issue, while still trying to look good,” he said.

He rejected the suggestion that businesses would suffer as a result of the proposed new policy, saying that a ban on smoking might in fact have the reverse effect. “It might actually bring back customers who were deterred from sitting in outdoor eating areas,” he said.

Greens Councillor Rochelle Porteous acknowledged there may be a small impact on businesses, but said the health benefits outweighed the detriment.

Evidence uncovered by the Cancer Council in 2007 revealed that exposure to secondhand smoke in outdoor areas is comparable to the level of exposure in enclosed spaces, indicating a real health risk to patrons of alfresco dining areas where smoking is permitted.

Leichhardt is not be the first council to introduce smoking bans in outdoor areas. Last month Waverley Council, which takes in tourist hub Bondi Beach, introduced a ban on smoking within ten metres of outdoor cafés. Similar regulations have been in force across the northern beaches suburbs of Manly, Mosman, Warringah and Pittwater since 2004, and a total of 58 councils across NSW have policies for smoke-free outdoor areas.

by Tamara Smallhorn