By CAM LUCADOU-WELLS
GREATER Dandenong councillors have rejected a proposed shisha lounge in Lonsdale Street, declaring it could be illegal under the Tobacco Act.
At a council meeting on 10 August, the proposed lounge and restaurant with a maximum of 50 patrons was refused on parking, amenity and legal grounds.
The venue was planned to be near a family martial arts gym, pool hall and slot-car racing centre at a retail area at 111-116 Lonsdale Street.
In a motion, councillors declared the proposal could be illegal under a “judicial interpretation” of the Tobacco Act – an interpretation that could extend indoor-smoking bans to shisha lounges.
Councillor Peter Brown said it could be argued that shishas’ main ingredient was tobacco, even if it was less than 50 per cent of the product, because it “is what motivates consumption”.
“Quite realistically, I doubt that any shisha lounge would commercially survive if there was no tobacco in the shisha pipe.
“The absence of tobacco would make the pipe content unsaleable and thus the presence of tobacco in the shisha is the significant element, not the quantum of tobacco.
“It is this argument upon which I believe the Tobacco Act can and should be interpreted to disallow the establishment of shisha lounges.”
Cr Brown said the council had standing to argue its case potentially in the Supreme Court – should the shisha applicant challenge the rejection.
Cr Matthew Kirwan has spoken out against shisha lounges as unregulated health risks, with no minimum age limits or controls on indoor smoking.
“When a shisha lounge limits entry to over 18s, we’re only relying on goodwill on that.
“If police or a council officer sees a 12-year-old in these venues, they can’t do anything.”
In 2013, Greater Dandenong Council wrote to the previous State Government about an end to indoor-smoking exemptions that allow for shisha smoking in cafes, restaurants and workplaces.
This year, the council started forming an alliance with health groups and council peak-bodies to lobby the State Government.
The State Government, which foreshadowed prior to the 2014 state election that it would not regulate shisha, has not responded to the Journal’s inquiries over several months.
