Page 3501 - Week 12 - Thursday, 19 September 1991
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I have received lots of complaints from people who have the misfortune to be located downwind of neighbours' chimneys. Perhaps we should be warning people at the time that they buy their blocks in undulating areas that the area is not suitable for chimneys. We could probably make it that at the time a person is purchasing a block they be told that they cannot put wood heaters and chimneys in that area.
I particularly want to mention caravan parks. That is where I have had a lot of complaints from. I have received complaints from long-stay caravan dwellers who have had to put up with smoke and pollution from their neighbours. It is not acceptable that the present legislation does nothing about stopping this. We should, instead, be encouraging people to design and site their homes to capture the natural heat of the sun, and the houses should be sited to take this into account. We could be pushing this with builders. We could be saying that this is the law; this is the rule; this is what they have to do. If this is not possible, we could be giving ratings to builders who build the houses in this way.
I believe that we should be discouraging people from installing solid fuel heaters. That is not exactly what the report says, but this is where I think we should be going. In fact, if correct siting, installation and design principles were adopted people would be able to heat their homes at much less cost. Therefore, we would not be using up so much energy.
An important aspect which the committee spent much time discussing was the responsibility of the woodcarters to sell only seasoned wood. It was very encouraging to listen to these people. I felt that they gave a very good report on this. I support the recommendations to expand the role of the Consumer Affairs Bureau to take this matter under their wing and do something about it. Although I am sure that most of the woodcarters in this city are responsible and honest people, there is a place for more regulation and control of the distributors and woodcarters to stamp out the sale of green wood, because green wood is mostly responsible for this haze that we get over the city.
People must be educated to use their solid fuel heaters efficiently. I know that the Government has offered advice to householders for many years, but this obviously is not enough. We have proved this from the fact that, although we keep putting out these pamphlets, people still do not take any notice of them. It is the old, old story; you can lead a horse to water but you cannot, unfortunately, make it drink.
I support the recommendation that a high-profile publicity campaign, including use of TV, be directed to improving the householder's knowledge in the use of these heaters. The experts who came to talk to the committee were adamant that the heaters they sell were efficient. I am sure that is
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