Heads Up, Delegates: You Won't Be Able To Smoke At BIGSOUND Like You Used To

Industry types looking forward to the opportunity to inhale their body weight in cigarettes while visiting for next week's BIGSOUND conference and showcase in Brisbane will have to be extra-vigilant about where they're lighting up following the introduction of revised anti-smoking legislation across Queensland.

at a glance: Key Changes To Qld's Smoking Legislation

• No smoking in pedestrian malls, inc. Brunswick St and Chinatown malls
• No smoking within five metres of non-residential building entrances
• No smoking within five metres of public transport waiting points
• Smoking ban includes the use of electronic cigarettes

The Nanny Sunshine State has long boasted some broad and tough bans and limits on public smoking, having introduced multiple restrictive amendments over the past 18 years since the original implementation of the Tobacco & Other Smoking Products Act 1998. However, those partial to the devilish death-sticks will now find themselves having an even harder time of it than in previous years when it comes to finding acceptable spots to light up — or simulate lighting up, since these bans affect electronic cigarettes, too — around Fortitude Valley.

The primary reason this will directly affect BIGSOUND-bound individuals is due to the fact that the new laws introduce a blanket ban on smoking at all outdoor pedestrian malls, meaning Brunswick Street Mall — which, until yesterday, had been an open space in which to suck poison, even though the CBD's Queen Street Mall rolled out a ban way back in 2011 — as well as its sister space, the Duncan Street mall affectionately known as Chinatown, are now official smoke-free areas (see shaded zones below).

However, although the laws have come into effect as of this morning, venues that have outdoor patron areas spilling into Brunswick Street Mall, including Ric's Bar and Taps, are still advertising designated smoking zones that front onto the pedestrian thoroughfare. 

The Music has reached out to representatives at those venues, as well as the Department Of Health, for clarification as to the impact these changes will or will not have on their ability to maintain those spaces going forward; more broadly, there do not appear to be any other potential amendments to the existing bans on smoking in otherwise dedicated food and drink service areas.

Additional changes for visitors to be aware of include an expansion, from four metres to five metres, of the no-smoking buffer zone around all non-residential building entrances — which will make it tough to spark a durry on the sidewalk — and the implementation of five-metre bans around public transport waiting points (bus stops, taxi ranks, ferry terminals etc). Five-metre bans are also in place for early-childhood education/care services, as well as residential aged-care facilities, plus a ten-metre ban for skate parks and playing/viewing areas during organised under-18 sporting events.

Any breach of the legislation carries with it on-the-spot fines for the offending smoker; although the government claims a penalty unit is worth $121.90, every single breach carries a two-penalty-unit fine, meaning that anyone caught breaking any of these rules is immediately staring down the barrel of a $243.80 ticket.

Further, the new legislation makes provisions for the government to ban smoking "in any public space not covered by a state-wide smoking ban", and has also blanket-banned the sale of tobacco products at temporary retail outlets — which include the kinds of pop-up stalls you see at music festivals. From 1 February next year, that ban will extend to within 10 metres of any in-use campsites or public facilities such as picnic tables, toilet blocks, barbecues, visitor information centres, shelters, jetties and boat ramps.

A full explanation of the existing and newly implemented changes to smoking legislation in Queensland is available via the state government.