SOME pubs and licensed clubs are using loopholes to get around Queensland's new anti-smoking laws, which were supposed to make one-third of gaming areas in licensed areas smoke-free.

The new laws state that from last weekend, "at least one-third of all poker machines at a liquor licensed premise must be designated as no-smoking".

The law also says "it is up to the licensee to decide which machines to be made no-smoking up to the total ban in July 2006".

But a number of pubs and clubs across Brisbane have exploited that clause in the legislation to locate smoking and no-smoking poker machines literally next to each other.

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This week, Brisbane's well-know Breakfast Creek Hotel, with only eight poker machines in a small gaming room, had all three no-smoking machines together.

The Shafton Hotel at East Brisbane had a much larger gaming room with 30 machines. It placed no-smoking machines next to other machines throughout its gaming room, with no apparent attempt to provide a no-smoking area.

The Greenbank RSL Services Club on Brisbane's southern outskirts – with over 250 poker machines in its main gaming room – also had no-smoking and smoking machines mixed throughout the room.

After a discussion with officers from Queensland Health yesterday, the club agreed to look at how they positioned machines to see if they could place no-smoking machines together.

A spokeswoman for the club said one of the reasons they had dispersed smoking and no-smoking machines was that the club had a number of different types of machines and games and it tried to provide for both smoking and non-smoking members.

She said the club was serious about providing for non-smoking members.

"In July 2003 we made all areas around bars non-smoking to protect all our staff and at least one-third of the floor area of the club non-smoking – so we have been proactive," she said.

Queensland Cancer Fund spokesman Nathan Scholz said that although he was disappointed with how the new no-smoking laws were being interpreted, the fund accepted a phase-in period for smoke-free licensed premises as a necessary part of solving a serious health problem.

Mr Scholz said in getting the no-smoking rules in place, the fund was prepared to compromise so that smaller licensed premises were not disadvantaged by the need to spend money to rebuild rooms to separate smoke-free and non-smoke free poker machines during the phase-in period.

"A number of premises have shown the way by embracing the views of the 81 per cent of Queenslanders in favour of smoke-free laws," Mr Scholz said.

"But we cannot believe some licensed premises would exploit a compromise arrangement and blatantly abuse the spirit of the new smoke-free laws."

Queensland Health's senior executive director of health services, John Scott, said pubs and clubs mixing smoking and no-smoking poker machines in the same area were technically complying with the new laws "but not with the spirit of the laws".

Dr Scott said environmental health officers had been going out and talking to clubs about how to comply with the new laws and they had reported "pleasing compliance".

Source: News AU