The first day of spring 2011 will mark a complete prohibition on smoking in the Brisbane’s Queen Street Mall.

Lord Mayor Graham Quirk is due to proclaim that September 1 will indicate the start of a totally smoke-free mall which was first announced by his antecedent Campbell Newman in November 2010.

Under the interdict, which will pertain to Queen Street, connecting George and Edward streets, and Albert Street, linking Elizabeth and Adelaide, a $200 fine will be strictly imposed on offenders, if they are spotted lighting.

According to reports from the Cancer Council Queensland, around 100 people smoke in the mall at any instance.

The ban is inspired by a recent survey conducted in 2010, which found that the mall records a weekly traffic of nearly 900,000 people, and 80 per cent of survey respondents backed the clause of a smoke-free shopping strip.

However, the critics and smokers in the QS mall were nowhere near impressed with this move, and they dubbed the $200 fine as “ridiculous”.

Though there are no signs of an urgent extension of the smoking ban in Queens’s mall to other parts of Brisbane, a strict prohibition on smoking in other public places, including South Bank, was inevitable.

The message from health officials to smokers is crystal clear: It’s as good a time as any, use this as an inspiration to take that first step on your way to quit smoking, as it kills.