The NSW Government is updating its clean air regulations for the first time in a decade - this is your chance to speak out on behalf of people vulnerable to the health impacts of air pollution.

We’ve put together some dot points below with recommendations, but the most important thing is to speak in your own voice - please don't copy and paste the dot points as your submission will be discounted in value; it’s better to write your own words.

For example, if you work in healthcare, explain what you do and why you are concerned about air pollution as a public health issue. You could also talk about how air pollution affects you or the people you care about.

Please email your submission to [email protected]

Once you've emailed your submission, please forward it to us at [email protected] so that we know how many submissions went through.

• Air pollution is a health risk that is difficult to avoid as an individual, and increases overall mortality as well as the incidence and severity of asthma, chronic bronchitis, heart disease and stroke and can also affect pregnancy outcomes. Everyone in New South Wales has the right to breathe clean air.
• The main sources of air pollution in NSW are coal-burning power stations, motor vehicles and wood heaters, and emission limits lag well behind world’s best practice
• Coal-burning power stations in NSW are the largest human-caused contributor to fine particulate pollution across NSW during summer and have been estimated to cause 477 premature deaths, 7,582 episodes of asthma symptoms in children and 419 premature births a year. [1] Currently coal power stations in NSW allowed to emit pollution at concentrations 5-8 higher than would be allowed in the European Union. New South Wales should have clean air regulations at least as strong as the EU limits.
• It is good that the government is proposing to get rid of outdated Group 1-4 air pollution limits for industry and coal-burning power stations by 2025 but there should be no exemptions for the new limits. As long as polluting companies are allowed to seek exemptions the regulations will be ineffective. Phasing in the new regulations by 2025 will allow plenty of time for industry to respond to the strengthened regulations but as history shows, in practice they won’t do so if they can seek an exemption.
• The government should require world’s best practice for pollution control.
• The government should adopt the World Health Organization guideline values for air quality. [2]
• Wood heaters are the largest cause of fine particulate pollution during winter and should not be built in new dwellings until a new health-based standard is implemented.
• The government should strengthen petrol volatility limits for vehicles to reduce the formation of dangerous ground-level ozone, a key component of smog.

[1] https://apo.org.au/node/307783

[2] https://www.who.int/news-room/feature-stories/detail/what-are-the-who-air-quality-guidelines

You can find out more about the review on the NSW Environment Protection Agency page here