Little: Banning smoking outside bars too far

Labour leader Andrew Little says banning smoking outside bars, cafes and restaurants would be a step too far. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Labour leader Andrew Little says banning smoking outside bars, cafes and restaurants would be a step too far, describing a smoke after a drink as one of "life's little pleasures" for some people.

About 70 per cent of councils at the Local Government NZ conference yesterday voted to ask the Government to ban smoking outside cafes, bars and restaurants.

The former Labour Government banned smoking inside bars and other workplaces in 2003 but Mr Little did not believe that should be extended to outside areas.

"I agree people shouldn't be allowed to smoke inside buildings which the public have access to. But in the end, people are able to lawfully buy tobacco products, they must be able to lawfully use them somewhere. We can go a bit too far sometimes in banning their use outside in public places."

Bar owners had told him restrictions did impact on them and smoking was already restricted to outside areas. "There are some people, they go to a bar, they have a drink and they have a smoke and it's a part of life's little pleasures."

Bans could be justifiable in some public places, such as public parks used by children. "Where there are children around and there is a risk of secondary smoke, perhaps you could justify that. But it is still a lawful product, as expensive as it might be and as unwise as it might be to consume it, but people have still got to have places where they can have a smoke if they want to have a smoke."

Hospitality Association chief executive Bruce Robertson told Radio NZ it should be up to bar owners and managers to make those decisions for themselves rather than an outright ban.

The National's Government's support partner, the Maori Party, has a policy to make New Zealand smokefree by 2025 and since entering power in 2008 the government has overseen steep increases in tobacco taxes, restricted the display of tobacco in shops, cut duty free allowances and introduced plain packaging legislation.