Smokers will be asked to butt out of Sydney's second-largest CBD if the council gets it wish to create what is possibly a first smoke free area in a major CBD.
North Sydney councillors this week unanimously passed a motion to ban smoking in every public place.
The proposal now goes to community consultation but Mayor Jilly Gibson reckons the community will back what may be the nation's first CBD-wide smoking ban in a capital city.
She even hopes to eventually make North Sydney the first smoke-free municipality.
"Why not try these big ideas?" Ms Gibson told AAP.
"Even if we reduce people's smoking in the CBD by, let's say, 50 per cent, that would be a huge result."
NSW Deputy Premier and Nationals leader John Barilaro on Wednesday trashed the proposal.
"I think they're overstepping their mark - they'll hear that from their community," Mr Barilaro told AAP.
"I'm not a smoker but at the same time I also believe we live in a free, democratic country where people have personal choice."
The mayor says the latest move isn't about punishing smokers but about improving the amenity of the area for residents, workers, visitors and school children.
Ms Gibson expects the ban would be enforced through encouragement, not fines, because changing behaviour was at the heart of the proposal.
The NSW town of Glen Innes in the Northern Tablelands introduced a smoking ban across its CBD in 2015.
Australian Associated Press
