‘We need to de-normalise smoking and be bold’: Hobart councillor’s push for CBD smoking ban

Smoking will be banned across several public spaces in the Hobart CBD under a plan to be considered by the council. FIND OUT WHERE AIR QUALITY IS LIKELY TO IMPROVE

SMOKING will be banned across several public spaces in the Hobart CBD under a plan to be considered by the council.

Hobart City Council is set to expand its smoke-free zones across the city.

A large block in the CBD encompassing Liverpool, Argyle, Collins and Murray streets will be smoke free under the butt-out plan.

Franklin Square, Soldiers Memorial Oval Community Hub and The University Rose Gardens have also been earmarked as new smoke-free zones.

Franklin Square will have a small designated smoking area on the Elizabeth St side.

A council report considered it “largely impractical” to ban smoking from all city streets.

If successful, the council will hire a project and enforcement officer for the first 12 months to hit the pavement and issue fines.

This role will pay a salary of $73,000.

Hobart Deputy Lord Mayor Helen Burnet has championed the ban

“We need to de-normalise smoking and be bold,” she said.

MORE OF TODAY’S NEWS

GENDER LAWS A WIN FOR ‘EQUALITY AND INCLUSION’

WATERFRONT PRECINCT READY FOR A FRESH FIX

NED’S SHORT LIFE HAD ‘AN EPIC IMPACT’

TASSIE POISED TO SIGN NEW SUPERCARS DEAL

The report also proposes the council lobby the State Government to consider an increase in the distance of smoking from doorways from 3m to 4m in line with New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland.

“I don’t think any business appreciates when smokers congregate near their front door,” she said.

Cr Burnet said discussions had begun with the Department of Health to examine the potential to declare the surrounding footpaths around Royal Hobart Hospital smoke-free.

Heart Foundation Tasmania chief executive Graeme Lynch backed the proposal.

He said smoking was a significant risk factor for heart disease.

A man having a cigarette next to a rather large no-smoking sign in Hobart’s CBD.

“Current Heart Foundation priority across the country is to increase the number of smoke free areas,” he said.

“70,000 Tasmanians smoke — the highest of any state per capita.

“Research shows that many smokers want to quit — they just need help and support and environments that assist in their quit attempts.”

Currently, smoking is not permitted in any outdoor dining or drinking area on land managed by the council.

Other locations when people are banned from lighting up include Trafalgar Place, Elizabeth Mall, Wellington Court, Hobart bus mall, Mathers Lane, Collins Court, Salamanca Square and all council enclosed car parks in the CBD.

The proposed ban will be debated at a planning meeting next Monday.