For example, under the line at the Morning Advertiser's article, "PM brands smoking ban a success", comes this anecdote from a self-declared publican.
I know [most publicans support the smoking ban] because of the evidence I saw with my own eyes whilst at a debate in the House chaired by Greg Mulholland and attended by representatives of all political parties along with many many publicans.Now, the guy who wrote it tends to offer many a straw man in his defence of the ban in pubs and is generally oblivious to the confidence trick that has been played upon him but, if that is true (we can't tell as it appears to be a meeting not covered by Hansard), hearts will bleed with renewed anguish when reading articles about the desperate plight of the hospitality industry, eh?
The question was asked who would support a return of any kind to smoking in pubs and only one person put their hand up. When asked who want it to stay as it is the room was full of hands. Now I know this isn't everyone, but as a representative sample of publicans it was quite a gathering.
