Outdoor areas in Victorian restaurants to be a smoke-free zone from mid-2017
Anti-smoking groups express concern over two-year delay but health minister says businesses need time to make changes before tobacco ban comes into place.
Smoking will be banned in the outdoor dining areas of all restaurants, cafes, take-away shops and licensed premises in Victoria, the state’s health minister, Jill Hennessy, announced on Sunday.
But the ban won’t take effect until August 2017, with the government set to consult with health and industry groups over the coming months to flesh out the detail of the reforms.
According to the most recently available statistics from the Victorian Cancer Council, about 13% of Victorians smoke, and about 4,000 lives are lost in the state each year due to smoking, costing the healthcare system $2.4bn.
Its chief executive, Todd Harper, said the council had been advocating for the ban for years, but that its strength would come down to how well hospitality workers were protected from tobacco smoke.
“We haven’t seen the detail yet, and that’s because there is a consulation period,” Harper said.
“Ultimately, how effective the smoke-free laws are will be seen in how well they protect hospitality workers from tobacco smoke, because they are the ones who spend the most time in these environments.
“We’re not concerned that it will take until 2017 to implement this ban, so long as that time is well spent properly consulting to ensure the legislation, when implemented, protects workers as effectively as possible.”
Community support for smoke-free outdoor dining is high. Cancer Council Victoria research showed 73% of Victorians support the ban. Smoking bans in enclosed restaurants were introduced in 2001.
However, opposition health spokeswoman, Mary Wooldridge asked why the outdoor smoking ban was taking the government so long to introduce, given the Coalition announced the policy over a year ago when it was still in government.
Greens MP Colleen Hartland described Wooldridge’s comments as “hypocritical,” given the Coalition voted against a private members’ bill introduced by Hartland in 2012 to ban smoking in outdoor areas. The bill did not get the numbers to pass through the house at the time.
Hennessy said the almost two-year period between announcing the ban and implementing it was necessary so that businesses would have enough time to prepare for the changes.
“We want to work with businesses and consult with them to ensure this important reform is introduced and implemented effectively,” she said. “We don’t want to jeopardise jobs.”
However, it will put Victoria behind all other states. New South Wales last month implemented a smoking ban for all commercial outdoor dining areas, including hotels, clubs, restaurants and cafes. Queensland banned smoking in outdoor dining areas in 2006, and the ACT in 2010.
Earlier this year, the Victorian government brought forward bans on smoking within 4m of the entrances to public hospitals and community health services, schools, childcare centres, kindergartens and preschools, and government buildings.
Breaching the bans, which are enforced by local governments, can attract an on-the-spot fine of $152, with a maximum penalty of $758.
Professor of health policy at Curtin University and president of the Australian Council on Smoking and Health, Mike Daube, said with close to 90% of the Australian population now non-smokers it was hard to see why Victoria was slow on implementing the outdoor dining ban.
“It isn’t rocket science – Victoria could simply follow the example of the other states where this legislation has been in place for years,” Daube said.
“It is a concern that a two-year delay gives the tobacco industry and its allies time to lobby for more delays and exemptions.”
A study of 10 million births published last week in the journal Nature Scientific Reports found the introduction of smoke-free legislation in England in 2007 was associated with clinically important reductions in stillbirth, low birth weight, and neonatal and infant mortality by 2011. Almost 1500 stillbirths and newborn deaths were avoided in the first four years after the laws prohibiting smoking in public places was introduced, the study found.
Source: The Guardian, Melissa Davey, 23rd August 2015
Originally published as: Outdoor areas in Victorian restaurants to be a smoke-free zone from mid-2017
