Audio: Tony Abbott labels NSW a 'nanny state' over car smoking ban
Jump to full article: Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) (au), 2009-07-02
Author: Jennifer Macey for AM
Intro: Coalition frontbencher Tony Abbott says New South Wales is playing nanny state politics with its ban on smoking in cars when children are present.
The former federal health minister has told a public health debate at Sydney University that smoking in front of children is a trivial issue and states should not intervene. . . .
"I was a child that was regularly imprisoned in a car with heavy smokers," he said.
"My parents both smoked heavily when I was a kid. Now has it done me any harm?
"You be the judge... maybe I would have been six foot six and I would have had much greater intelligence, who knows? . . .
"I personally would not get hung up on something, in my view, as trivial as smoking while the kids are in the car."
Long time anti-smoking campaigner Professor Mike Daube from Curtin University disagrees.
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