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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2002 Week 11 Hansard (25 September) . . Page.. 3231 ..

MS MacDONALD (continuing):

Given that most social smoking happens in pubs and clubs, smoke-free public places must become a higher priority for governments. Passive smoking is estimated to cause 1,600 deaths in Australia every year. Around 146 of these deaths are the result of lung cancer, and around 10 times this number result from heart disease. Exposure to passive smoking remains a significant occupational health and safety issue, particularly in the hospitality sector where workers are exposed to second-hand smoke on a daily basis.

Research suggests that there is a significantly higher lung cancer risk for both smoking and non-smoking bartenders, compared with that for the general population. Smoke-free workplaces not only protect workers and patrons from the proven dangers of passive smoke, they also help smokers quit, according to a new study in the British Medical Journal. The study says that total smoke bans in workplaces lead to smokers cutting down the number of cigarettes they smoke.

My closest friend, who is a smoker and also a teacher, does not smoke throughout the entirety of the days that she is teaching, because it is not acceptable for her to smoke in the schoolgrounds. I know that it is better for her health if she does that, and I hope that it will eventually lead to her giving up.

The study provides still more evidence for governments to push ahead quickly with stronger legislation to make all workplaces, including hospitality venues, smoke free. Research shows that this is necessary to protect employee and public health, that passive smoke causes serious harm even in small doses, and that the public strongly backs total bans covering pubs, clubs and casinos.

The main objection by the Australian Hotels Association, that smoke bans would lead to lost business, is based on false economics, as shown by the latest study on the effect of smoke bans in the dining industry in South Australia. It found that the bans had no adverse impact, supporting more than 30 worldwide objective studies on actual hospitality business figures following smoke bans.

Tougher controls make sense. They will help health budget blow-outs, improve worker safety, and reduce the massive costs to the ACT and national economies of sick days and so on. We simply cannot afford not to address this seriously, with urgency and with a tough mind-set.

Mr Speaker, I would also like to say that, earlier on, I failed to mention that, while I was doing research for this motion, every person my office rang mentioned your role in trying to make sure that we had reasonable, responsible and tough legislation. I commend you for your earlier work on this.

While I have put this motion up, I would also say that I discovered recently, while travelling during my honeymoon, that Australia is far in advance of most places in the rest of the world. For example, my mother-in-law could not attend a large part of her own son's wedding in Ireland because people were lighting up, and she had had respiratory problems that evening and the evening before.

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