Page 2594 - Week 07 - Thursday, 18 June 2009
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
the Tumut land-clearing hazard reduction. There were two exceedences of 2.5 microns in the winter period. In fact, if you look at the table, it will show that for 2.5 microns there was almost no registration for most of the period from late June, July and most of August; there was no perceptible measure of 2.5 micron particulate emissions from the station.
Generally speaking, the data shows that, while there is an increase in particulate matter in the high period of wood fire burning, the general case is that we are well within the national environment protection measures, and we are well below most of those measures on most days. The very few occurrences tend to be at the early part of the year.
That is not to say that there is not a perception of a problem. The issue of visual pollution certainly arises; it is quite well known, and it has been quite well known for as long as I have lived in Canberra, that the inversion layers in the Tuggeranong Valley do create visual pollution. But as we can see from the evidence from the national environment and protection measure reporting, the occasions when there is a departure from the standard are very few and far between. I think that over the years that I have been associated with this place a range of measures has been introduced to reduce pollution, not just in the valley but across Canberra. They include a range of advice and publications on how to burn your fire so that it burns efficiently and you get full combustion. When you have full combustion, you have much less particulate emission. There has been a series of advices and registration of wood merchants to ensure that not only does the wood come from sustainable sources but also that the wood that is sold is suitable to be burnt in the year that it is sold, that it is well seasoned et cetera.
In addition to that, there have been the replacement scheme incentives, which have been of some use. Ms Le Couteur said that only 600 subsidies have been given, but it is hard to tell whether there are other people who have ripped out their old wood heaters and replaced them with something else and not availed themselves of the subsidy because they may not have known about it. There are lots of renovations that go on where people reassess their heating requirements.
There has been a bit of a push from a small number of people over a long period to see quite a substantial change in policy, essentially the outlawing of wood-burning heaters in the ACT, and I am not sure that the evidence is there to support that policy. I would be encouraging the government today, especially at this time of the year, to perhaps revisit the advice and information that goes out to people.
It is worth considering a more proactive approach in relation to people who do burn their wood inappropriately. The clear evidence from places such as Launceston shows that good public education can actually turn things around. There are times when we all drive around—I suppose I am attuned to it because I am someone who owns a wood fire—and tend to look critically at other people’s flues, at the amount of smoke coming out of them, and pass judgement on whether they are burning their wood appropriately. Perhaps we should be using the environment protection agency to have a better public information and public education process and to go down the path of perhaps helpful notes and warning letters. There may be some amendments to the environment protection legislation that we need to look at.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .