Vaping set to be banned in Melbourne CBD’s smoke-free areas
The sight of e-cigarette smoke clouding city streets could soon be a thing of the past, with a legal loophole allowing the practice set to be closed. Here’s how vaping evaded the CBD smoking ban in the first place.
VIC News
Don't miss out on the headlines from VIC News. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Vaping is set to be banned in inner city smoke-free areas.
Melbourne City Council is likely to amend its laws in line with state legislation controlling the use of e-cigarettes.
Eleven smoke-free areas currently exist in the central city including Bourke St Mall, QV Melbourne, The Causeway, Block Place, and the Tan and Princes Park running tracks.
But vaping bans don’t apply due to a legal technicality.
The council’s people city portfolio chair Beverley Pinder said banning vaping in smoke-free areas would send a clear message that it wasn’t a better option to smoking.
“E-cigarettes are often marketed as a way to help smokers to quit, or as a ‘safe alternative’ to regular cigarettes, but health experts agree that there simply isn’t the evidence to support these claims,” she said.
“E-cigarette liquids contain a range of chemical ingredients and flavours that haven’t been proven safe to inhale, and aren’t regulated, so you really don’t know what you’re inhaling.”
Lord Mayor Sally Capp said the proposed amendment would align the city’s local laws with the state Tobacco Act which already deals with vaping.
“E-cigarettes are relatively new, but we know that there is a possible link to serious lung disease and growing evidence that e-cigarettes can lead young people to start smoking regular cigarettes,” she said.
“This change to the local law would mean e-cigarettes would be banned anywhere that smoking is banned in the City of Melbourne, making smoke-free areas simpler for everyone to understand.”
The fine for vaping or smoking in a smoke-free area is $100.
Bourke St, between Elizabeth St and Russell Place, became a smoke-free zone late last year.
The city council has not yet issued any fines for smoking in Bourke St as its focus has been on education as people adjust to the change.
People found littering cigarette butts anywhere in the city face heavier fines: $330 for an unlit butt and $660 for a lit butt.
MORE NEWS
SURGE IN CHILD POISONINGS SPARK FEARS ABOUT VAPING
STUDY FINDS PARENTS WANT FLAVOURED E-CIGARETTES OUTLAWED