Smokers should be banned from outdoor dining areas at cafes and restaurants, Melbourne's lord mayor said on Monday, with Victoria the only state in Australia permitting a post-meal puff at the table
Doyle on Monday suggested Victorians "have a discussion" about banning smoking wherever food is served calling it the "next logical step" in anti-smoking legislation.
He proposed a ban on smoking in all outdoor areas within the council's boundaries, such as the popular Lygon Street eating strip, Docklands, and parts of South Melbourne.
"We are about the last state that still allows smoking where people are eating outside. Given that everybody else does it and the world hasn't fallen in, in any of those other states and capital cities, maybe it is time that we thought about it in the City of Melbourne," he said.
Doyle suggested the change after the council recently voted to make four laneways within the city grid completely smoke-free - The Causeway, Howie Place, Equitable Place and Block Place.
However, independent Councillor Richard Foster - who supports smoke-free areas - said the lord mayor's proposal was unworkable.
"It can't work without the support of businesses and it is clear that business do not support it," Foster told Fairfax Media.
The council had already received legal advice throwing cold water on the idea because it "would turn small business owners into enforcement agencies", he explained. The only way to enforce the proposal was to make smoke-free dining a condition of food service permits, which meant the council would have to fine the business, not the smoker breaching the rules.
Foster said he would support the Victoria government introducing a state-wide ban, as other states have done.
Director of Quit Victoria, Sarah White, said removing smokers from al fresco dining areas stopped making smoking seem normal to children and helped quitters stay on track. Ideally the smokers would be forced out of sight of other diners.
"Former smokers say the hardest thing is when people light up near them. Quitters tell us they hear it, they see it or they smell it and suddenly it triggers their own cravings," White said.
Families could eat outside without their children seeing other people smoking at the table after the meal, which was a bad example to children. Rooftop bars could still have designated smoking areas away from food and entertainment, she added.
