And another slice of freedom taken away.

One for Mr Puddlecote to get wound up about.

As I've blogged before (see here, here and here) Australia likes to have little bans on consuming alcohol in public here and there, partly due to a perceived problem with out of control drinking and partly because the poor bloody Aborigines are still being patronised and treated like children who can't decide things for themselves. So I suppose it's not much of a surprise that some authoritarian prick would decide to extend the ban on smoking in 'public places' to, er... well, a public place actually.

Frankston City Council is preparing to impose blanket bans along three busy open-air shopping strips, including opposite the train station.

Do you know what really boils my piss about not smoking anymore? It's that I've become happy about it, but the fucking miserablist fuckstains who want to push every smoker who enjoys a ciggie into doing against their will what I chose to do for myself are fucking spoiling it for me.

Fuck off, you jumped up little authoritarian pricks.

Lighting up in the designated exclusion zones during the planned six-month trial could cost defiant smokers fines up to $110.

110 bucks? Fucking hell, that's a bit steep for a bit of smoke that's in the outdoors...

...where it can fucking blow away immediately without harming anybody else except including the self righteous wankers with theatrical coughs who'd actually move towards a smoker so the poor sod can see the tedious cunts waving their hands and pulling faces.

Fuck off!

Frankston Mayor Christine Richards said the bid to banish cigarette smoke from streets would probably upset some people, but the health benefits were worth any flak.

"We want to make people think twice about the way they conduct themselves in the public domain, and who they are affecting," she said.

It's outdoors. It fucking blows away, you fucking cretinous waste of skin. Just have the fucking guts to say it out loud: you don't like looking at it, do you? Because if it was just the smell of fag smoke, which I've been a non-smoker long enough now to come to dislike, you'd be banning farting and people with B.O. Actually I'd argue that minging armpits and a potent air biscuit are worse - on a still day their stench will hang around for a while whereas the smoker conveniently provides a heat source under the allegedly offending smell which lifts it up and away from other people.*

"There are a huge number of deaths from tobacco in Victoria each year, more than from alcohol and traffic accidents and illicit drugs. We want to do something about it."

And driving smokers and the money in their pockets away from a shopping area is it? You idiot! They'll just go shopping elsewhere and spend their money where they can smoke. If I had a shop in one of these streets, especially a newsagents or somewhere that had a fag counter, I'd be going ballistic over this piece of pointless tobacco fascism.

Victorian laws already ban smoking in pubs, cafes, shopping centres, gaming venues and workplaces, on some beaches, on covered train platforms, and in cars carrying children.

Which is obviously not enough for that section of non-smokers which make me feel FUCKING ASHAMED THAT I FUCKING GAVE UP, YOU LOATHSOME, ILLIBERAL, FUCKING FUCKS!!

FUCK!!
OFF!!!!

The council has voted to run an education campaign and consult the community before starting the trial in September.

The consultation exercise gives some hope that the council might be persuaded to drop this on behalf of the afore mentioned hypothetical shop owners, but authoritarian busybodies don't have a good track record anywhere on seeing sense when they're told that they're trampling on freedom in a supposedly free country. And they have been told:

But Alistair Wardle - the only one of nine councillors to vote against the trial - described the move as "a bit extreme".

"My main concern is that it is an infringement of civil liberties," Cr Wardle said.

"It's getting trivial, booking people for smoking on the pavement. It's open space - if people see someone smoking, they can walk around them."

Cr Wardle said he feared the rules would "create aggravation and annoyance" among smokers, would be difficult to police, and would simply shift smokers and their litter elsewhere

Good for Alistair, but since he was the only one this consultation and education shite is in all likelihood the only fucking concession there'll be. I have little doubt the consultation part will be 50% PR and spin to justify it and claim overwhelming support** and 50% pretending to listen to objections while politely explaining that they're going to do it anyway.

As for the education part, there's really only one lesson to learn:

Don't go to fucking Frankston. They're into bansturbation there.

* I concede that someone with minging pits and dropping tear jerker farts whilst smoking is antisocial due to the risk they might explode.
** A poll in the Herald Sun did show slightly over half support the move when I looked at it. Several thousand people are either fools or have yet to come across Niemöller.

First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a communist;
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist;
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew;
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak out for me.

First they came for the smokers, and I did not speak out because I didn't smoke...