Thursday, 2 May 2024

Air pollution

Samantha RATNAM (Northern Metropolitan) (18:44): (863) My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Environment, and my ask is that he table the government’s response to the inquiry into the health impacts of air pollution in Victoria. The inquiry report was tabled almost three years ago in November 2021, and the government still has not provided a formal response. This is not only a contravention of standing orders, it is also a complete dismissal of all the effort, time and thought that was put in by so many community groups and members during this inquiry. This Labor government’s flagrant disregard of the rules of parliamentary procedure has garnered significant distrust from the community, not just with respect to this inquiry but many others where responses are extremely delayed if they are ever responded to at all. The government’s refusal to act on expert advice and community consultation has resulted in a loss of faith in the ability for mechanisms such as inquiries to have a real impact.

The government hosted a Victorian clean air summit in 2018. The inquiry into the health impacts of air pollution was conducted in 2021, and in 2022 the state’s air quality strategy was released. An enormous amount of work was put into these events, inquiries and strategies by the community and experts, but as of 2024 little has been done to action the key findings and recommendations from each of them. These were all supposed to be turning points in Victoria’s approach to air quality policy, but years on we are lagging behind other states on this issue, to the detriment of people’s health each and every day. For example, the inquiry and strategy both made clear the need to phase out wood heaters as the smoke produced by them is extremely polluting and harmful to our respiratory and circulatory systems. They also recommended the creation of clean air zones in the west and inner west, yet to date we have seen very little action to progress these recommendations. The air quality strategy promised that the government would commence wood heater policy reform in 2023, but this still has not happened. The inquiry made many similar findings about how serious our issues with air pollution are in Victoria and how these conditions are making people sick. It also exposed a lack of government action for decades despite mounting evidence and pleas from the communities to act. Minister, will you table the government’s response to the inquiry into the health impacts of air pollution in Victoria?