Smoking Ban in SA Pubs

As of midnight this morning (or last night, if you prefer), all smoking is prohibited inside in South Australian hotels and clubs. This is a great step - as someone who is not a smoker, it’s nice to be able to go anywhere and drink myself into a stupor without having to worry about lung cancer. This is a follow-on from the previous laws, where it was illegal to smoke in certain areas in pubs. For instance, there was always at least one “smoke free” bar in any licensed establishment, and if there was only one bar, smoking was prohibited within 1m of that bar.

Of course, there is one side-effect of the new laws, which I noticed before work this morning.

Where do all of the smokers go when they can’t stay inside and smoke? Outside on the footpath, of course. Normally this wouldn’t bother me too much, but down Hindley Street there are several pubs, and each one had a cloud of smoke and a cloud of smokers outside of them. That I had to pass through as I strolled to work.