The People’s Clean Air Action Plan
The people of Victoria and NSW have been waiting too long for the Andrews and Minns governments to combat toxic air pollution and protect their health.
Every day their governments delay action on air pollution, is another day communities suffer health impacts from air pollution – like asthma, heart attack and stroke, and premature death.
The government needs to act on the worst sources of toxic air pollution now. That means reducing pollution from major sources – coal-fired power stations, vehicle emissions and wood heaters.
Where the government has failed, the people have stepped in. In collaboration with community, health and environment groups, and international pollution experts, we’ve developed a list of actions for the NSW and Victorian governments to reduce toxic air pollution and protect public health.
The People’s Clean Air Action Plans for Victoria and NSW call for the state governments to reduce the biggest sources of air pollution by:
- Increasing air quality monitoring and access to information about air pollution
- Reducing coal-fired power station pollution with best practice control standards
- Reducing vehicle pollution, with a focus on vehicle pollution hotspots
- Phasing out wood-burning heaters
- Legislating health-based ambient air quality standards.
The overwhelming industrial source of air pollution in Australia is coal-fired power stations. Toxic air pollution from coal-fired power stations disproportionately impacts the communities living near them, making this one of the most significant environmental justice issues in Australia.
The facts
Each year, approximately 2600-4800 people in Australians die as a result of exposure to toxic air pollution, at an annual health cost of $24 billion.