WEEKEND PROFILE: Catherine Moyle - Clearing the air

* Name: Catherine Moyle.
* Title: Regional smokefree co-ordinator.
* Area responsible for: Bay of Plenty and Lakes.
* Age: 29.
* Marital status: Single.
* Partner: There is someone special but if I start babbling then his mate will read it. He's over in Sydney at the moment though. So I came to New Zealand (from Australia) and met an Australian, which is a bit strange.
* Children: No.
* Nicknames: No ... oh, as a child I used to get called "tur", because my surname's Moyle.
* Where were you born? Glen Innes, New South Wales.
* Where did you grow up? I sort of grew up all through New South Wales. My parents tended to move.
* Which schools did you attend? I went to boarding school in Goulburn. It was Marian College.
* Fond memories of high school? Yeah, I enjoyed it. I am one of the few people from my dormitory who actually enjoyed the whole boarding aspect. It's dreadfully cold, that's all. It's on an open, exposed plain. It's where the big marina is, if anyone knows of it.
* Diligent pupil, or social butterfly? I managed to combine the two. I was actually quite good through school. Got good marks. I was probably social with most of the different groups you tend to get at a girls' school.
* Was going to a single-sex school an advantage academically? Oh, it's a little bit tricky cos I've since taught and girls tend to ... it tends to be good for their education but in terms of the social side of things it can be a little bit tricky. I don't think it's affected me so much but I did see it with some of my peers.
* Tertiary qualifications/training? I have a Bachelor of Applied Science in human biology. So my elective strains in that were psychology and sports science. Then I did a graduate diploma in secondary education and I've just finished a masters of public health in health promotion. University of Canberra for the first two, the University of New South Wales for my masters.
* What is your strongest childhood memory?
Oh, the strongest one would have been my youngest sister shoving a um ... oh she must have been about four at the time and she ... We lived in Young, which was the cherry capital of Australia and she'd been eating cherries and she didn't know what to do with one of the cherry seeds so she shoved it up her nose. Yeah, oh she'd love me telling that one and yeah, had to go up to emergency to have it removed. I think she tried to get it out with a pencil afterwards.
* What was your first job, and where?
Working at Corin Forest. It's a recreation facility just outside Canberra and it was on the flying fox actually. Yeah, I sort of fought hard to be outside with the boys, was a bit of a tomboy.
* What is the most unusual/unpleasant job you have ever done? The flying fox was certainly the most unusual in terms of what I'm doing now. Everything else has sort of been a progression. Actually I used to shelve books at a library, at the university library. Oh and I cleaned out the town swimming pool one school holidays.
* Are you a loyal Australian or Kiwi? I don't think I'd call myself an Aussie. As in an ocker sort of Aussie. I'm very bad at supporting Australian sport, for instance. Not good to have a token Australian during the Australia/New Zealand test matches and things because I just don't get that passionate about it. But I have to say I was supporting the New Zealand ultimate frisby team at the international championships.
* Is your family Australian? Yep, that's right. We're all Australian, there's a bit of Scottish. I affiliate with the Kamilaroi people - an Aboriginal tribe in New South Wales.
* When did you come to New Zealand and why? July last year. I had taken job with Toi Te Toa Public Health as the health promoter. I realised I wanted to leave Canberra and I liked New Zealanders.
* What did you like about New Zealanders? Their down-to-earth attitude and openness. Yeah, their warmth and just hospitality, even abroad.
* Had you worked in smoking policing role in Australia? I went from teaching to working with one of the non-government organisations (NGOs), so working with the Australia Capital Territories (ACT) Cancer Council as a health promoter and I worked in smoking prevention. I did some community development work and also did smoking cessation as well. So that side of things with Aboriginal groups, the clients of mental health and youth ... so I got all the easy ones. Sorry, I'm sort of grinning as I say that - I mean, all the tricky groups.
* How did you become the smokefree co-ordinator? I came over for a job in health promotion with Well Child. I was working in injury prevention and inter-personal violence. So I came over for a job there and my predecessor left about this time last year. So the position came up and we sort of went from there.
* How did family and friends react to your new job? Yeah, they are supportive of it. I guess, I'm trying to think ... There hasn't been much reaction either way. There's always congratulations with a new job. Everyone but the one sister out of six kids in my family - only one of them smokes and yeah, she's the only one who didn't actually offer her congratulations.
* Are you/have you ever been a smoker? No. Nah, never smoked.
* Were you ever tempted as a teenager? No, I guess having worked in smoking prevention too, I would say, rather than it being a case of peer pressure, I mean someone saying you need to smoke, it's more about social influence and the same reason that as a teenage girl, you buy the same clothing as your friends. You sort of subscribe to the same image but that never really impacted me. I've always been able to stand alone and by, basically what I believe.
* What are you feelings about the smokefree bill? I think it's awesome that it's gone though and it's following the international trend at the moment with Ireland going smoke-free, with all the pubs and things. Which seems a bit strange, but if Ireland can do it then surely anyone can. But yeah, certainly leading Australia in that respect and the blanket ban is really good too. Like in terms of, as a non-smoker it's great, but for licensees as well because it means there's no preferential treatment being given to any sector.
* What challenges have you faced in your job? It hasn't been too bad actually. There hasn't been much by way of repercussions for me. I think a lot of people have realised that it's legislation and are taking the steps to comply with that and to actually go beyond that. Like, for example, there are licensees who are taking the smokefree legislation further through their own policies and actually designating smokefree alfresco dining areas, which is great. I mean for non-smokers, it's going to be a concern that smokers will dominate the alfresco dining.
There are all these initiatives and we have something like 14 smokefree marae in the area. So, rather than being faced with any challenges myself, I'm actually constantly inspired by initiative being taken by people in the community.
* What are your responsibilities other than policing smoking?
I also do the host-free liquor licensing. So I go out and visit premises and just make sure they are toeing the line, which is a Dad phrase, with their host responsibility requirements. Ensuring there's food available and they're not serving to intoxicated individuals and they're not serving to minors and so on. I also do some work with Te Ara Oranga Rootu O Tauranga Moana - that's a road safety group. I help out on that group and they actually run marae-based, driver licence training and road safety awareness. I sort of fit those bits in around the regional smokefree as well.
* Does being in pubs all the time put you off going out socially?
No, not at all. I'm quite partial to the jam nights around town. And I'm quite excited about them being smokefree. This place is awesome for live, local music.
* How important do you think your role is?
I see my role as being more about support than enforcement. So when complaints come through I will actually go out and see how I can support the individual or the organisation that the complaint's been laid against - to help them understand the legislation and comply with it.
With this being new legislation and there being so much confusion, there's no case law. I see my role as being really quite important in terms of helping the public and licensees and employers make sense of the legislation.
* Do people think you are out there actively policing smoking in bars?
With a cape? Yeah, that's a common misconception. The licensees particularly were concerned about that. But the legislation has always been policed, if we use that term, or enforced, through complaints or the complaints procedure.
* If you are having a rough day at work, where is your 'happy place'?
I just think about a grassy knoll, a few flowers ... I'm still looking for it. But it's got a water view I know that much. A water view, a slight breeze ...
* Are you working over Christmas and New Year?
I'm not. I'm taking holidays, which is great. I'm back into it in the middle of January. Heading back to Australia at end of January for a week but I'm heading over to Great Barrier Island. I'm a little bit excited about that. With a big group of people but the man will be there. With a little bit of frisby thrown in. I play ultimate frisby and we've got our championship tour on at the moment. The championships are actually going to be here in April, I'll put a plug in for it.
* Do you have a family Christmas planned?
I'm gonna go back over on a strategically timed visit to Australia between one sister returning from Ireland with first nephew and the birth of another sister's child.