A motion to look at the proposal that was put to last Wednesday’s ordinary council meeting by Cr Brown was unanimously supported.

“All we’ve done is ask the administration staff to look into the feasibility of no smoking in the main street,” Cr Brown said.

His proposal would see all smoking banned on Poynton Street from the roundabout at the corner of McKenzie Street to the other roundabout at the corner of Merghiny Drive.

“It’s not a huge area we’re looking at where people can enjoy the main street in a non-smoking area,” Cr Brown, a former smoker, told the West Coast Sentinel.

He added that the ban would help to improve the health and wellbeing of children and adult non-smokers, it would reduce air pollution and would reduce litter.

The study will also look at whether a ban has been put in place in other towns and how successful they have been, if they exist.

At the meeting, Mayor Allan Suter contributed to the debate, saying, “It smacks of Big Brother,” referring to the book 1984 by George Orwell.

Ceduna Bakery Coffee Lounge owner Jason Greatbatch said people smoking outside his business were on private property so “it’s no difference to you smoking at home”.

“People are eating and smoking; that’s why they go down there. It won’t work,” he said.

He said people eating at his café could use a table inside or in the Surpry’s Mall hallway and that installing a ban just on Poynton Street would put him at a disadvantage compared to Yumbarrana’s Coffee Lounge on McKenzie Street.

Cr Brown said people would still be free to smoke in other areas of Ceduna, including on the beach.