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The trend to smokefree workplaces, smokefree
pubs, and away from pubs, to cafés
THE TREND TO
SMOKEFREE WORKPLACES SINCE 1990
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Figure 1. Proportion of workers
exposed to second-hand smoke 1989- 2005
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Note the marked decreases in the wake of:
(1) the
Smokefree Environmets
Act 1990 office smoking ban, with effect from February 1991;
(2) the 2003 Amendment with effect from 2004 ending all
remaining smoking in indoor workplaces.
In the late 1990s Tuku
Morgan MP introduced his own bill. Later sponsored by Hon Tuariki Delamere, then Ms
Steve Chadwick. Health Minister Hon Annette King’s supplementary
order paper completely revised it.
In 2001-2 an array of health groups made submissions
in favour of smokefree
workplaces. Doctors for a Smokefree New
Zealand collected 1000 doctors’ signatures in 8 weeks, detailing
how second-hand smoke damages health, asserted clean air to breathe was
a fundamental human right, and asking for smokefree
workplaces for all workers by 2004 at the latest. DrSFNZsubmission.pdf The Health Select Committee
recommendations strengthened the bill. Now only residential situations
are not covered by the ban.
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THE
TREND TO SMOKEFREE BARS SINCE 2000
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Figure 2. Public opinion on smoking in bars,
and in restaurants 2000-06 
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Figure
3. Compliance with the ban on
smoking in 193 bars across 20 towns or cities, 2004-5
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UMR Survey Research, separate surveys of 750 adults each.
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National Research Bureau for ASH NZ.
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Support for an end to smoking in restaurants and bars rose and then
faltered in 2001, but increased again with a media campaign. During
2003, Parliament debated the bill, and a media campaign around the TV
commercial Lets clear the air
ran August to December, but neither affected the polls. The bill passed
in December 2003, and came into force in December 2004. By 2005 69% of
the public (nonsmokers 75%, smokers 42% supported smokefree
bars. In April 2005, 21% of all respondents said they smoked
cigarettes.
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Surveyors on a Friday 6-8 pm,
entering 193 bars in 20 centres, counted the
number of patrons and the number of these who were smoking at the time
they entered the indoor bar area. Those in outdoor areas were not included.
The same bars were visited on both Rounds. (Round 1, July 2004,
pre-ban; Round 2, April 2005, five months post-ban.)
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This NZ Herald photograph illustrates a key issue of the campaign –
whereas patrons had the choice to smoke, bar workers had little choice
but to be smoked over. Health groups, with the support of bar workers’
and casino workers’ unions, successfully framed the issue as a workers’
rights issue, rather than as merely a patrons’ choice issue.
THE
TREND TO THE CAFÉ LIFESTYLE, AWAY FROM PUBS, REGARDLESS OF THE SMOKE
BAN
Figure
4. Retail sales, 2001-2005,
inflation-adjusted, and seasonally adjusted
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- After allowing for inflation, bar and club sales
in the June quarter were virtually the same 2005 as in 2001, at
just under $210 million (in 1995 $, seasonally adjusted).
- Cafés on the other hand experienced strong
sales growth beginning in 2002, continuing after the smokeban in December 2004 and continued during
2005, a growth of 19.5% in 4 years.
- In cafes and in bars, the smokeban did not affect prior sales trends.
Source: Table 8,
Retail Trade Survey, Retail sales http://www.stats.govt.nz/
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For further graphs on the smoke ban, see Communiqué’s
report for the Asthma and Respiratory Foundation. http://www.asthmanz.co.nz/files/PDF-files/Aotearoa_NZ_Smokefree_Workplaces_12_month_report.pdf (embargoed until 9 Dec)
For the effect of the Smokefree law on
gambling hotline callers, see www.smokeless.org.nz
under Smokefree pubs and gambling.
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