Smoke-free outdoor areas: supporting local government to introduce tobacco control policies.

Objectives: To ascertain the proportion of councils with smoke-free outdoor areas (SFOA) policies in New South Wales (NSW), Australia and to explore the enablers and barriers to local governments introducing such policies.

Methods: A structured survey of council staff at NSW councils was conducted by telephone in 2011. Participants were asked about the existence of any SFOA policy, and enablers and barriers of the policy.