Smokefree idea causes stir at Caroline Bay
Plans to make a popular beach smokefree have been met with scepticism from volunteers at a long-lived Timaru carnival.
Health promoters have challenged the local council to make Caroline Bay off-limits to smokers - but carnival volunteers say the idea infringes people’s rights and is reminiscent of a ’’police state’’.
For more than a century the Caroline Bay Carnival has been held in the area, attracting thousands of tourists and residents.
Long-time carnival volunteer and Timaru resident John Poland on Wednesday said the suggestion was a ‘‘stupid idea’’. ‘‘Out in the open air I don’t think there’s any harm in people having a cigarette,’’ he said.
Health promoters have urged the council to endorse the national Smokefree 2025 goal and extend its smokefree areas policy to include Caroline Bay and space such as bus stops. Caroline Bay could become the South Island’s first smokefree beach.
Community and Public Health smoke free promoter Katie Jahnke told the council earlier this month the move would send a strong public health message.
But Poland, who first got involved in the carnival in the 1950s and has volunteered on-and-off since then, said the policy seemed unnecessary in a place with a affected by a sea breeze. ‘‘You’ve got to give people some freedom,’’ he said.
The idea demonstrated the extent to which New Zealand was becoming a ‘‘police state’’, he said.
Mayor Damon Odey on Wednesday moved to allay what he characterised as widespread misunderstanding in the community about the situation.
The council was not interested in ‘‘going around with fire extinguishers’’, but wanted to set a good example for young people in Timaru, Odey said.
There would not be an enforceable bylaw prohibiting smoking: ‘‘There may be some passive educational signage,’’ Odey said.
Odey said he was unsure how long the council’s smokefree policy review would take.
Carnival Bay Association president Warren Barker said he supported having some areas, such as the children’s play area, as completely smokefree, but it would be unrealistic to extend that to the entire area.
The festival had a strict policy of no smoking near the rides, and there were fewer and fewer smokers among the volunteers now, Barker said.
Barker said he did not think a smoking ban would have much impact on the carnival, but the issue would probably be discussed at the association’s annual meeting this week.
Volunteer Dave Woolstencroft felt the idea was an infringement of people’s rights, though he could understand why people would want the carnival itself to be smokefree.
‘‘I think most smokers these days are aware of people around them, and most are selective of where they smoke.’’
The carnival already had a designated smoking area for volunteers.
Long-time volunteer Maurice Elder said the policy would not affect him either way.
There were smokers among the volunteers, but not as many as there used to be when he started in the 1950s, he said.
Younger volunteers tended not to smoke anyway as it was too expensive, he said.