“Possible” Smoking ban inside homes: Cancer Council SA

By Dr. Ananya Mandal, MDApr 19 2011

The Cancer Council of South Australia is planning to ban smoking inside Australian apartments and calls this plan “entirely possible and even probable.” Earlier this month an eight-unit apartment block in western Sydney introduced a by-law making the premises, including balconies, completely smoke-free.

The Ashfield block is the pioneer in imposing such a ban but Professor Brenda Wilson, the chief executive of Cancer Council SA, predicts it will not be the last. “Expectation is growing that there be no smoke in shared places…Councils have discussed [banning smoking at] various events like Christmas pageants. The State Government has announced plans to protect playgrounds, and Cancer Council SA wants to see hospitality in South Australia smoke-free as a priority. It's entirely possible and even probable that people sharing apartment blocks will want those to be smoke-free too here in Australia,” she said.

Professor Wilson says the demand for smoke-free areas is sparked by increased awareness of the risks of second-hand smoke. “[The] fact remains that second-hand smoke is harmful. The level of exposure can determine a person's risk and you could imagine many would like to have the choice that their home be a safe haven - something that poses quite a challenge in a shared setting such as apartment blocks,” she said.

Tim Vine, the director of Civil Liberties Australia disagrees saying tobacco is legal and people should be entitled to use it in the privacy of their homes. “They shouldn't be excluded from a community because they engage in a legal activity…While I understand people wouldn't want second-hand smoke coming through their apartment buildings... people will just have to learn to live alongside each other. We shouldn't be turning to the law to settle disputes between neighbours,” he added.

Cameron Murphy, the head of the New South Wales Council for Civil Liberties, said, “It's perfectly alright to ban smoking where it affects another person's enjoyment of their lot but it's got to be something that is more than a mere annoyance…Can the body corporate really dictate what people are entitled to do inside their lot? If it's found that they can, what's next? It's a slippery slope. If an owners corporation doesn't like people cooking because it doesn't like the smell of cooking wafting from apartment to apartment, will they ban it? Drinking coffee, what you do in the bedroom... will they ban that?”

Recent trends in New York have resulted in smoking bans gradually being imposed on blocks with ten or more apartments.