Background: to assess knowledge, attitudes and behaviours about passive smoking in cars and homes in the Queensland community.

Method: 1026 randomly selected Queensland residents (84% response) participated in a computer assisted telephone survey to assess knowledge, attitudes and behaviours about passive smoking in cars and homes; and attitudes towards restrictions on smoking in a range of contexts.

Results: Most respondents are aware of the negative health effects of passive smoking and have smoking bans in their cars (75.8%) and homes (76.8%), however bans are less prevalent for smokers (cars: 37.9%; homes: 51%). For cars and homes, most smokers who did not have smoking bans would not smoke at all around pregnant women (67.7%/53.7%); fewer would refrain for children °Ü12 years (48.2%/35.1%); non-smoking adults (31.3%/17.9%); and children 13-17 years (30.9%/21.2%). Most respondents support car/home smoking bans for children °Ü12 years (80.4%/66.1%); children 13-17 years (78.2%/66.7%); and pregnant women (80.5%/67%).

Conclusions: There is strong community support for legislation targeting passive smoking in cars and homes. Community education alone may not substantially reduce passive smoking for the children of smokers.

Implications: Multi-level interventions including legislative change, community education programs, and evidence based interventions for parent smokers are needed to reduce passive smoking in private settings.