Page 1427 - Week 05 - Tuesday, 3 May 2016
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The first are amendments to the Environment Protection Act and the Environment Protection Regulation. The Environment Protection Act contains provisions that regulate the sale of solid fuel-burning equipment such as wood and coal heaters. In December 2015 new Australian standards relating to emissions and efficiency ratings for new wood heaters were endorsed by commonwealth, state and territory environment ministers. This endorsement through the national clean air agreement paved the way for the national adoption of measures to reduce air pollution, including the adoption of new emissions and efficiency standards for new wood heaters. The amendments now require compliance with national standards which set out maximum emissions and minimum efficiency limits, testing requirements and rules for marking of information on equipment.
I applaud the finalisation of the wood heater standards into legislation in the ACT. Wood smoke has been a concern to many Canberra residents for decades. In the colder months the ACT is affected by pollution from wood heaters largely because of our climate and our topography, with the Tuggeranong valley particularly impacted. Particulate matter from wood heaters is one of our worst local air pollutants. It can dramatically reduce our air quality and severely affect people with respiratory issues. The ACT Greens have sought to resolve this issue through increased wood heater standards, and that is why we included it in the 2012 parliamentary agreement, calling for improved emissions and efficiency standards for wood heaters in order to improve local health and air quality.
We now finally have legislation in place in the ACT which installs a strong, mandatory efficiency standard for wood heaters. The emission standard refers to how much pollution is put into the air from the wood heater; the efficiency standard refers to how much fuel you need to operate your wood heater. The two standards work together to reduce air pollution emitted from wood heaters and allow users to better understand the bigger picture in terms of both their consumption of fuel and the impact on the environment. Of course, that wood fuel comes from a range of sources, and there are certainly documented issues where it is being removed from areas of nature reserve, areas where the timber lying on the ground provides an important habitat for insects in various forms. So it is not just the smoke pollution that is a problem.
Overall, for my mind, though—and not to diminish the many other worthy amendments in this legislation—this is the one that I think that is of most significance to our community, particularly for those who suffer from respiratory conditions. I have been approached by many people over the years who have expressed to me both their concern and their frustration about this issue, and I think this is a great outcome. It certainly represents an achievement of another item in the parliamentary agreement but, most importantly, it will benefit the members of our community who are vulnerable to the inversion effect we get here in Canberra in winter. We share that particular feature with places like Tamworth and Launceston, and I am pleased that this has gone through at a national level as well because people in those communities will also benefit. I am particularly pleased about this element of the bill.
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