War on smoking fires up as councils urged to introduce local bans THE State Government has left the door open for more legislation to ban smoking and is calling for councils to enact additional bylaws such as Brisbane City Council's Queen Street Mall ban. It comes as the Cancer Council estimates 300 Queenslanders die each year from smoke exposure. Passive smoking also has been linked to a 30 per cent greater chance of developing lung cancer. Health Minister Lawrence Springborg said Chief Health Officer Dr Jeannette Young was providing local councils with smoking rates in their areas and asking them to consider their powers in banning smoking in public places. "Local councils know the things that will work locally and things that won't," Mr Springborg said. We certainly will not rule out using legislation and more bans, but in the interim Dr Young will be advising councils across Queensland of smoking rates and asking them to consider their bylaws. Labelling cigarette smoking an "abhorrent habit," Mr Springborg said he would encourage councils to be as forceful as possible with their by-laws, but said the state would reserve the right to intervene. He said there should be more "bold moves" similar to Brisbane City Council's decision to ban smoking in Queen Street Mall in 2011. State legislation currently bans smoking at major sports facilities, outdoors at commercial eateries, within 10 metres of a playground, within 4m of playground equipment and in most areas around Health Department facilities. "If we continue at the current rate, smoking is going to become such a minority thing in the community that it will become almost completely unacceptable," he said. Cancer Council Queensland spokeswoman Katie Clift commended the Government's commitment to considering statewide bans but said a uniform approach was still needed. The Cancer Council is pushing for legislation to include apartment blocks, bus stops, shopping malls and taxi ranks. "We know most smokers want to quit, and each year about 10,000 of them are successful in Queensland, but many more would quit if uniform statewide laws were introduced to ban smoking in public places," Ms Clift said. Dr Young today launches a $400,000 digital and broadcast media campaign targeting young women smokers for World No Tobacco Day.