Page 1855 - Week 06 - Wednesday, 8 June 2022
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The strength of this motion is that it better brings all of these efforts together in a more tailored, effective way to reach those who need it most. Another strength of this motion is that it is another important trigger to prompt those community conversations about the most efficient and low-impact ways to heat our homes and how these choices impact on the most vulnerable in our neighbourhoods. In a city that prizes its clean air, do older, polluting, inefficient wood heaters still have a place? This motion represents another step along the journey towards cleaner air for all in this changing city.
I do hope that our colleagues across this chamber will support this motion, because, as Mr Davis highlighted earlier, there are serious health impacts if we do not do the work to improve air quality. Many of us know someone whose health is impacted by poor air quality triggering asthma or other respiratory conditions, and we all remember the smoke in the air after the last bushfires. When it comes to taking care of our planet, to quote someone smarter than me, “unless we all want to die very unpleasant deaths, we are going to have to work together”.
As a member of the ACT Greens, I am proud of the work of my ministerial colleagues that has ensured that Canberra is a national and global leader as an environmentally and climate friendly city. This motion also highlights the power of local Greens MLAs, strongly representing the needs of their communities, to ensure that climate and energy policy and program settings deliver for low income households so that we bring all Canberrans along on the journey towards a cleaner, greener normal for this great city.
MS LAWDER (Brindabella) (4.00): I thank Mr Davis for bringing this motion to the Assembly today. As many members in here would know, wood fire smoke is a concern that is raised most winters by a number of residents, particularly in my electorate of Brindabella. It is particularly noticeable down in Tuggeranong.
As Mr Davis’s motion points out, the Tuggeranong Valley is amongst the three valleys worst affected by pollution from wood fire smoke in Australia. This is for a number of reasons, most notably the topography of the Tuggeranong Valley and the well-known inversion layer, and the cold winters we experience here in Canberra. The ACT State of the Environment Report in 2019 found that air quality is generally good in the ACT, except for particulate matter pollution from wood heaters, especially in the Tuggeranong Valley
We know that often it is older, less efficient wood heaters that are particularly to blame. The State of the Environment Report found that smoke from wood heaters had the greatest impact on air quality in the ACT and recommended that the ACT government build on incentives to encourage the replacement of wood heaters, specifically targeting the Tuggeranong Valley.
Whilst there is an obvious environmental impact from wood fire smoke, there are also the potential health risks for those exposed to it. Short-term exposure to high levels of wood smoke can cause eye and respiratory tract irritation. It can aggravate asthma and it could worsen heart disease. Asthma Australia CEO Michele Goldman stated:
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