Public opinion in Australia on restricting smoking in public places

Abstract

Department of Politics, University of New South Wales Canberra ACT 2600, Australia I McAllister Abstract Objectives -To measure public support in Australia for restricting smoking in public places, and to assess what smoking restrictions already exist within the work place. Design-A personal interview survey representative of the population resident in all states and territories of Australia, conducted in March and April 1993 by a large market research company. Setting Interviews were conducted in the respondents' homes. Subjects 3500 respondents aged 14 years and older. Main outcome measures Support for banning smoking in a variety of work place settings, smoking prevalence, and workplace smoking policy. Results There is strong public support for banning smoking in the workplace (79%), in restaurants and caf?s (73%), and in shopping centres (71%). There is less support for smoking bans in public houses and clubs (42%) and in open air public places (16%). Although support is greater among never-smokers or past smokers, 47% of heavy smokers still support a workplace smoking ban, com pared with 32% who oppose it. Support for smoking bans is strongest among women, older people, immigrants, and those with higher educational attain ments and occupational status. Overall, 66 % of employees report that there is a ban on smoking at their workplace, with 14% reporting restricted smoking inside the building and 20% no restrictions. This last group is concentrated among the self-employed and those employed in family businesses. The analyses also sug gest that workplace smoking restrictions promote support for smoking bans in other locations. Conclusions Government legislation to ban smoking in the workplace, in restaur ants and caf?s, and in shopping centres has strong public support. Although most of the workforce are employed in smoke free workplaces, many small businesses have few smoking restrictions; the Aus tralian government needs to address this problem. A policy of incrementalism on smoking bans would appear to have the best chance of attracting public support.