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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 8 Hansard (30 August) . . Page.. 2677 ..

MS TUCKER (continuing):

topography and climate are conducive to poor atmospheric dispersion in winter, with low-level inversions forming on clear nights if wind speeds are low. Surrounding hills exacerbate the problem of accumulation of air pollutants because dispersion is poor. Still nights and low-level inversions also increase the incidence of nuisance smoke flowing from a chimney directly into a neighbour's home. For those people who live next door to houses with wood fires and have to constantly breathe smoke, it can be a major health problem.

I am not saying that we should ban firewood heating, as I am aware that many people have no choice but to rely on the fireplaces or wood stoves that are already in their homes for heating. Over time I hope that the current extent of firewood heating in the ACT will reduce as householders move to alternative forms of heating or make their houses more energy efficient. However, for the foreseeable future we will have to cope with smoke pollution. My motion is therefore about reducing the impacts of wood smoke.

There always will be debate about what is an acceptable level of pollution, as there is uncertainty about the direct links between particular levels of pollutants and public health impacts. Judgments are also made about what is an acceptable level of risk across the community. However, it has become clear that the level of wood smoke in the ACT is way above accepted pollution standards in other cities. A recent CSIRO study on air pollution called "Air pollution size counts" by Dr Malita Keywood identified for the first time in Australia the chemical makeup of different sized particles in the air. Burning wood creates tiny particles which can penetrate deep into the lungs and which contain toxic and cancer-causing chemicals. Chemicals include lead, black carbon and complex organic compounds.

Dr Keywood and colleagues measured levels of particles smaller than 10 microns in diameter in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra and Launceston. Despite the cities' smaller size, average concentrations in Canberra and Launceston were two and three times greater than in the other four cities, with smaller particles down to 2.5 microns in diameter making up a larger proportion of the particle concentration in Launceston and Canberra because of the prevalence of wood smoke in these two cities.

The Armidale Air Quality Group, whose city has the same problem with wood smoke as we do, over 1999 analysed air quality measurements from the monitoring site in Monash against the pollution index used by the New South Wales EPA to classify air quality levels over Sydney. It found that Monash had at least 76 days over the winter of 1999 that would be classified as high pollution days in Sydney, all due to high particle levels from wood smoke. The number of days is probably higher, perhaps up to 100, because measurements were not available for about a month within that period. By comparison, Sydney had only five days of high pollution over that period, according to the EPA index.

Numerous health studies around the world have confirmed the association between fine particulate air pollution and adverse respiratory and cardiac health effects, with impacts similar to those of cigarette smoking. It is also the case that the smaller particles are more likely than larger particles to be responsible for adverse health impacts. It is much harder for the body to catch and eliminate the small particles, so such particles get trapped in the lungs.

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