SMOKING in outdoor areas of South Australian pubs and restaurants will be banned in five years.

Health Minister John Hill today revealed the ban in a new five-year State Government Tobacco Strategy, which would also see all publicly funded events to be smoke free indoors by 2014.

"Smoking is still the main cause of ill health and premature death in South Australia, killing three people a day, and costing tax payers around $2.5 billion every year," Mr Hill said.

The timetable for the next four years also included:

BAN on retailers displaying tobacco products by 2012.

MOST government department premises to be smoke-free by 2012.

ALL government premises, with the exception of prisons, to be smoke free by 2015.

"We want publicly-funded events to significantly increase the smoke-free areas and work towards being entirely smoke free by World No Tobacco Day, 31 May 2014," Mr Hill said.

"Some major events held in large outdoor areas, like Clipsal 500, will be able to use designated smoking areas.

"We recognise there are particular challenges in restricting smoking in the States prisons and we will work with prisons to develop smoke-free policies, encouraging new facilities to be smoke free indoors, and established ones to move towards this goal in the longer term."

Originally published as Smokes ban for outdoor diners