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Hillside Headline Index
Indoor smog a health riskPollution within homes can be as harmful as outdoor air pollution. That was the concern shared by members of the House of Representatives during a recent debate on indoor air pollution. Outdoor air quality is monitored and regulated according to national standards enforced by the National Environment Protection Council. Yet although the National Health and Medical Research Council has developed guidelines for indoor air quality, it has no power to enforce those guidelines. Research indicates that we now spend approximately 90 per cent of our time indoors, the Member for Gorton (Vic), Brendan O’Connor, told the House. “It seems obvious that we are exposing ourselves and some of the most vulnerable groups in society to unacceptable health risks brought about by ignorance and an absence of acceptable indoor air quality standards,” he said. Poor ventilation systems are contributing to the problem. The Commonwealth Department of the Environment and Heritage, in its report Air Toxics and Indoor Air Quality in Australia, cited a study of ventilation systems in 228 low-rise office buildings in Melbourne. The study found that 82 per cent failed to meet the Australian standard. “I think this is a very significant figure,” the Member for Shortland (NSW), Jill Hall said. “If we examine a significant sample like the sample that was examined in Melbourne … that shows a significant problem and one that needs to be addressed.” Luke Hartsuyker, the Member for Cowper (NSW), is particularly alarmed by the impact of unflued gas heaters on indoor air quality. The Department of Environment and Heritage has found that these heaters, which warm more than 1 million Australians each year, can generate high levels of nitrogen dioxide, which causes breathing difficulties and asthma. “There is worrying evidence that, in homes and classrooms, using certain types of heaters will result in air quality worse than that in the central business districts of our major cities,” Mr Hartsuyker said. “Governments need to establish standards for indoor air quality. We need to examine carefully products which could adversely affect indoor air quality by adding to indoor air pollution.” (See House Hansard 30 May 2005)
Wanted: Pickers ... transport, accommodation providedA critical shortage of produce pickers in some rural areas of Australia has prompted a call for innovative solutions to deal with the problem. Currently, there is a program that encourages working holiday makers from overseas to work for three months in a seasonal activity in a regional area in exchange for a one year extension of their working holiday visa. But Barry Haase, the Member for Kalgoorlie (WA), is concerned that areas such as the Kimberley and Gascoyne regions of Western Australia, which are a great distance from the nearest capital city, are failing to attract workers for the harvest season. Mr Haase says working holiday arrangements are not working for isolated rural areas as almost 100 per cent of working holiday makers prefer to work in regional areas in south-east Australia, where they are close to major metropolitan centres. “What we need to do is come up with some solution that will see these people penetrate through to some distances from south-east Australia,” Mr Haase told the House of Representatives. “My growers are prepared to foot the bill for some transport, accommodation etc if these workers will only come to the Ord Valley.” The gross value of horticulture production in 2000 was $5.5 billion. This production is dependent on access to seasonal labour in the form of pickers, pruners, planters and packers. Without this labour, Australia’s horticultural industries will not be able to expand to take advantage of our increasing access to worldwide markets. (See House Hansard 31 May 2005)
What a wasteEvery year, Sydney flushes 450 billion litres of water into the sea after minimal treatment. This is approximately 75 per cent of Sydney’s annual water usage, meaning that Sydney dumps more than seven times more primary sewerage into the ocean than any other city in Australia. “This has always been environmentally irresponsible, but it is also a colossal waste of water,” Member for Wentworth (NSW) and Sydneysider Malcolm Turnbull told the House of Representatives. “Sydney recycles less than three per cent of its waste water … Yet all of that water could and should be recycled.” Desalination has been suggested as an alternative solution to Sydney’s chronic water shortages, but Mr Turnbull believes recycling is a more economical solution to Sydney’s chronic water shortages. Mr Turnbull recently visited Israel’s largest water recycling plant, which processes 125 billion litres of sewerage per year. The recycled water is used for irrigation and non-drinking purposes. While in Israel, Mr Turnbull also visited the world’s largest desalination plant. “It was common ground there that the cost of recycling is about half the cost of desalination. To the Israelis, its was blindingly obvious that the first measure to be undertaken was recycling waste water; that is why they recycle 70 per cent of their waste water,” he said. “Of course, they are not alone – recycling is common and increasing in the United States, Canada and Europe, almost everywhere in the world except Sydney.” Mr Turnbull believes recycling water will help Sydney achieve national environmental objectives for improving the state of its coastal waters. “I read today the guidelines for the Water Smart Australia program administered by the Australian government water fund. I noted that one of its objectives is that by 2015 Australia will have ‘reduced ocean outfalls through greater reuse and recycling of water’. There is nowhere in Australia where there is a greater need for the realisation of this objective than Sydney.” (See House Hansard 14 June 2005)
Plea for the "forgotten people"Every day, a young Australian is placed in an aged-care nursing home because there is no other way for them to receive full-time care. Some of these people are younger than 10 years of age. There are currently more than 6,300 young people with disabilities residing in aged-care facilities. For the most part, these young people have been seriously injured in accidents, been permanently affected by a health condition or suffer from neurological disorders. The Member for Franklin (Tas), Harry Quick, is keen for governments to work together to cater for the needs of young people with disabilities requiring care. He is concerned that many of these people are, on average, at least 40 years younger than the aged-care residents they live with. “These are the forgotten people,” Mr Quick told the House of Representatives. “Not forgotten by their frustrated families but out of sight and out of mind from both the state and federal government agencies that should be caring for their needs.” According to Dr Bronwyn Morkham, the national director of the Young People in Nursing Homes Project, Australia has a system of support based on age, not need. As a result, young people with complex support needs often end up in aged-care facilities that were never designed to support them and are not funded to do so. As a result, the staff are rarely trained to cater to the needs of these young people. Harry Quick believes part of the problem is that different levels of government have different responsibilities. “Whose fault is it? Whose jurisdictional responsibility is it? Should the Commonwealth have sole responsibility or should the state government, through its housing department, find the money to come up with imaginative and client needs based options and remove these people from this totally inappropriate setting? “This is an appalling situation that must be addressed immediately.” (See House Hansard 2 June 2005)
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