No Fences and Hedges Butt plenty of No Smoking signs

By Mike Welsh

FOR a city uncluttered with fences and hedges there sure seems to be an obsession with erecting signs banning all manner of activity in the most inappropriate places.

A sign proclaiming a ban on smoking within 10 metres of a set of swings at a Higgins park (and at others, I suspect) has just appeared. Is an ugly steel post standing in concrete three metres from a set of swings in a very large and, sadly, often deserted public facility, warranted? Should not a more concentrated focus be applied to the second-hand, smoke-filled haze around the 30-metre radius outside office buildings in nearby Belconnen?