Lighting up in parliament house
When it comes to protecting workers from smokey environments, the NSW government could claim to be on track, with a plan to phase out smoing in all clubs and pubs by mid 2007. Since Bob Carr announced these changes in 2004, the progression towards them has been gradual, to help patrons and the industry adapt. However last month, after long negotiations with the industry, a compromise came about. It was a loophole that allowed smoking to continue inside so long as 25 percent of a room, or one wall, was open to fresh air. Today, at the NSW State Parliament, a group of anti-smoking protestors lit up in the upper hosue gallery during an attempt by the Democrats to introduce a disallowance motion, to stop the legislation going ahead. The Wire spoke to Stafford Sanders, one of the protestors who lit up, as well as Lloyd Swandon, Phil Edge and NSW AHA spokesman David Elliot.