Victoria lags behind on outdoor smoking bans

Rita Panahi
September 30, 2013
Herald Sun

AS the weather warms up, and vitamin D-deprived Melburnians shed the winter layers to soak up the beautiful spring sunshine, an issue that has long aggravated the majority comes to the fore; why are a misfit minority of smokers allowed to monopolise sought-after alfresco areas in cafes, restaurants and bars?

Victoria’s insanely inadequate smoking laws allowing inconsiderate addicts to light up in outdoor dining and drinking areas, including beer gardens, balconies and footpaths, make about as much sense as a screen door on a submarine. Not only do they make the prime open-air spaces practically uninhabitable for those of us who choose not to pump cancer-causing toxins into our bodies but the second-hand smoke often blows into indoor areas, adversely affecting the 87 per cent of us who are not smokers. Just why do we allow this troublesome minority group of recalcitrant junkies to inflict the byproduct of their drug use on sensible folk who don’t have a death wish and just want to enjoy a quiet drink or meal without breathing in poisonous second-hand smoke?

Earlier this year the Coalition and Labor banded together to defeat a proposed ban on smoking in outdoor eating and drinking areas, despite widespread community support and the backing of the state’s biggest health organisations. The Heart Foundation, Cancer Council, Quit and the Australian Medical Association urged MPs to adopt the bans and bring Victoria in line with other states but in the end only the Greens backed the Bill. It is a sad day indeed when the Greens are the sole voice of reason.

The failure to act is indicative of a mindset that continues to see smoking as a freedom-of-choice issue. The rights of addicts to continue their addiction superseded the rights of the majority who are crying out for greater restrictions, with polls showing 70 per cent of Victorians support a ban on smoking in alfresco areas. It’s little wonder the Victorian Government has the dubious honour of winning the AMA’s ‘’Dirty Ashtray’’ award two years in a row for being the worst-performed government in tobacco control. Victoria is the only state that has not introduced, or announced, plans to ban smoking in outdoor dining areas. The Napthine administration has committed to ban smoking at all public playgrounds, swimming pools and children’s sporting facilities but lags behind other states in restricting tobacco use.

The refusal to ban smoking in outdoor dining areas is as reckless as it is perplexing. Perhaps the Government and Opposition are listening to the louder segments of the hospitality industry that see any encroachment on smokers’ rights as detrimental to profit margins. Who can forget the mindless scaremongering the industry engaged in when smoking bans in clubs and pubs were first mooted in 2004? The bans were to lead to the decimation of the industry but of course nothing of the sort happened and patronage actually increased, as did the lifespan of hospitality workers no longer subjected to chronic levels of second-hand smoke.

WE may make fun of Queensland for its terrible coffee, fashion and choice of parliamentarians but the Sunshine State has shamed its more fashionable southern cousin with leadership in banning tobacco use in public areas including prohibiting smoking in alfresco dining and drinking areas. The bans have been in place for seven years and research suggests not only are the non-smoker majority more likely to frequent these establishments but many smokers also support the bans, with a quarter of those surveyed saying they’ve attempted to quit because of the strict laws.

The dangers of second-hand smoke cannot be understated; AMA Victoria president Dr Stephen Parnis is adamant that there is no safe level of exposure to tobacco smoke. “The 2010 report of the US Surgeon-General advised that even brief exposure to second-hand smoke can lead to an increased risk of cardiovascular disease and acute cardiac events,” he said. Smoking continues to be the biggest killer of Australians, with more than a thousand deaths every month. Cigarettes remain the leading contributor to the two biggest causes of premature death: heart disease and cancer.

The tobacco scourge continues to plague the community; even walking into the MCG on Grand Final day, one had to negotiate groups of smokers sucking on cancer sticks and fouling the crisp air with their noxious fumes, not to mention littering the hallowed earth around the ’G with filthy cigarette butts. Despite countless education campaigns cigarette butts remain the most littered item in Victoria, accounting for more than 50 per cent of all litter items.

When smoking in cars carrying children was prohibited the cries of protest were loud and typically shrill. It now seems inconceivable that any decent parent would dream of smoking when sharing a car with a child. That law proved that one cannot rely on smokers to self-regulate and laws are needed to make them behave like reasonable human beings; if they are willing to inflict cancer-causing carcinogens on their own children in the cabin of the family car, they are not going to refrain from smoking when in an alfresco area.

The City of Melbourne has taken the initiative and, with the support of the majority of traders, banned smoking in Causeway laneway, meaning alfresco diners and coffee enthusiasts have a space where they can breathe easy for at least the next six months. The ban comes into place tomorrow and one can only hope that the likely resultant increase in business will lead to others following suit and introducing similar bans.