Tuesday, 23 May 2023

Air pollution

Tim READ (Brunswick) (19:13): (197) My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Roads and Road Safety. The action I seek is for the minister to create a low-emissions zone in the City of Maribyrnong and in the parts of Hobsons Bay and Brimbank with the heaviest truck traffic, allowing only trucks that meet the Euro 5 emissions standard or higher to enter the zone. Over the past few years, we have learned more about the health impacts of PM 2.5 air pollution from cars and trucks. These particles, measuring 2.5 microns or smaller, can get into your home even when the doors and windows are closed. They cause lung disease, but they are also absorbed into the bloodstream, where they can cause cardiovascular disease, including stroke, and even adverse birth outcomes. Nitrogen dioxide is another pollutant from trucks and cars and an important cause of asthma and lung cancer. University of Melbourne researchers recently concluded that rates of disease due to air pollution have been underestimated in Australia. In fact they estimated that vehicle emissions account for more than 11,000 deaths annually in Australia, 12,000 cardiovascular hospitalisations and 66,000 cases of asthma.

Last week the City of Maribyrnong declared a health emergency due to vehicle emissions, particularly from heavy trucks using local roads. Rates of asthma and lung cancer in Maribyrnong are both significantly higher than corresponding national averages, so a low-emissions zone would act as an incentive to upgrade trucks and would encourage participation in this government’s scheme for the modernisation of trucks, which received $15 million in today’s budget, by the way – and I look forward to hearing more details from the government of how this scheme will work.

Dozens of cities around the world, like London, Tokyo, Beijing, Barcelona and Madrid, all have low-emissions zones, and they work well. In fact some set even higher standards than the standard I have requested, requiring trucks to meet the higher Euro 6 standard. More than a quarter of Australian trucks are more than 20 years old. The average age of trucks in Australia is double that of the average age of trucks in Europe. These trucks are the most polluting, and the 14 per cent of our trucks sold before 1996 emit 60 times more fine-particle pollution than newer trucks and eight times more nitrogen oxides. So I encourage the minister to respond to the health emergency in the inner west by keeping the older, more polluting trucks out of this area and in doing so drive the modernisation of Victoria’s truck fleet to the benefit of us all.