Page 2599 - Week 07 - Thursday, 18 June 2009
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I personally do not have a wood heater, but I know that they were an essential inclusion in, and sometimes addition to, most of the new houses that were built in the valley in the 1970s and the 1980s. In the days when wood fuel was cheap and plentiful, the wood heater provided an efficient heating method to combat our cold winters.
There are a number of residents in Tuggeranong who still rely on these wood heaters as their only form of household heating. These residents may be unable to take advantage of the wood heater replacement program currently being offered by the government—only until August this year—for various reasons.
I note from the information provided on the department of the environment website that:
Only new mains supplied natural gas heater installations will attract the $600 subsidy. There are no additional funds for low income earners or pensioners.
I also note that there are a number of requirements associated with this program that would prevent the take-up of the offer by some in the community, notwithstanding the cost aspects and the fact that the site mentions “significant delays in having your wood heater removed and recycled, and your new mains supplied gas heater installed”. These restrictions would explain the poor response. According to the minister, there have been only 76 applications under the scheme this year; and in total since 2004 only 721 households have taken advantage of a rebate scheme to replace wood heaters.
It would seem logical that a more targeted awareness campaign on how to use your wood heater properly and on the alternatives, and a rigorous consultation program combined with more effective monitoring of our air quality, may prove to be the best way forward with this issue.
As a number of speakers have already stated, there are quite a number of varied opinions on this. Nevertheless, discussion about it is good. I am pleased that Ms Le Couteur has raised this issue and I thank her for it.
MS BURCH (Brindabella) (3.55): I thank Ms Le Couteur for bringing this matter to the Assembly and I appreciate her interest in the Brindabella electorate. As a member for Brindabella and a Tuggeranong Valley resident, I am only too aware that on some winter days when the air is still there appears a haze across the valley. This is disappointing for locals, because often on the way down to Tuggeranong along Isabella Drive the view of the Brindabellas is really quite magnificent; in winter we hope to see snow-capped Brindabellas.
On another level, before coming into this place—and since coming to the Assembly—I have knocked on hundreds of doors across the Tuggeranong area, talking to local folk. The issue of wood smoke haze across the valley has been raised with me a number of times. Local residents are particularly concerned about the health effects on their children. As we have heard here today, the fact is that sustained inhalation of wood smoke can lead to serious health problems, both in the short and the long term.
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