North Sydney Council has made a bold move against cigarettes and passed a vote to initiate a complete smoking ban in the CBD.
As Sydney’s second biggest business district, North Sydney will be the first major CBD in Australia to introduce the controversial law.
Following the unanimous vote, North Sydney Mayor Jilly Gibson told 9News she was “thrilled” it was passed, adding: “I’ve been working on this for a long time… There was actually a mood amongst the councillors, which I agree with, that we might try to extend it the whole municipality.”
“We used to accept all sorts of things from smokers, smokers had all the rights,” Mayor Gibson reportedly said prior to the vote. “Now I believe it’s the time of the non-smoker.”
Results from a council-run survey showed that 80 per cent of surrounding businesses and residents supported the ban due to their growing concern about the dangers of second-hand smoke. However, not everyone was as pleased with the decision, with 18 per cent of those who responded disagreeing with the council’s decision, arguing that the government shouldn’t be regulating behaviour and saying “smokers need somewhere to go”.
In a debate with Steve Price on his radio show on 2GB, Mayor Gibson defended the council’s choice by saying those who worked in the CBD could simply smoke before and after work when they are at home.
Naysayers included Price himself, who claimed the decision was a “nanny state solution” and argued it was “impractical” for workers to be expected to avoid smoking while at their job.
Mayor Gibson said those who are complaining about the ban should compare it to when flights became smoke-free in 1987, saying: “Smokers used to claim that they couldn’t possibly go that amount of time without a cigarette.”
The smoking ban on domestic flights was one of the first steps in a domino effect of bans that continued across the nation for years to come. Prior to the bans, many Baby Boomers would still remember the days when a cigarette could be lit anywhere you wanted, from schools to shopping centres to cinemas and even doctors offices.
Many tobacco advertisements even used the support of medical professionals to help sell their products, much like in the infamous Camel ad that said: “More doctors smoke Camels than any other cigarette”.
North Sydney’s smoke-free CBD initiative could easily become the first of many across the country with bans also put in place in popular, tourist-heavy areas around Australia such as Pitt Street Mall, Martin Place, Strathfield council area and parts of Bondi, Manly and Bondi Junction.
In an effort to get smokers on board, fines won’t be handed out to smokers as of yet, however there will be rangers to patrol the area and educate smokers on the new rules.