Bill

September 2024. The transport sector contributes nearly a fifth of Australia’s air pollution. Creating safer air for all Australians means thinking about transport fuels and their emissions, who is most at risk, and the types of settings where people are exposed to transport-related air pollution. In this webinar we heard from Dr Timothy Chaston, a research fellow at the University of Sydney, and Affiliate at the Centre for Safe Air. He was joined by Keith Loveridge, former Senior Sustainability Officer with the City of Maribyrnong and lecturer and tutor at RMIT, who has made a significant impact as a citizen scientist and advocate for reducing transport emissions in Melbourne. The webinar and a live Q&A was facilitated by Geoffrey Morgan, Associate Professor at the University of Sydney and Chief Investigator at the Centre for Safe Air.

Bushfire smoke can harm your health, especially if you live with a lung disease (like asthma), live with another long-term illness (like heart disease and diabetes), are over 65 or a child under 5, or are pregnant. The best ways to avoid smoke are to: Close doors and windows to help protect you during short episodes of outdoor smoke, wear a P2/N95 mask outdoors and indoors if needed, use an air cleaner with a HEPA filter indoors, check local air quality using a trusted app (e.g. AirRater), and think about visiting a place with cleaner air like a library or a shopping centre.

There is now well-established evidence of the harm of transport emissions on health. In our response to the questions posed in the Roadmap, we outline the benefits and importance of including health co-costs and co-benefits in the transition to zero carbon

Air pollution is the single greatest environmental cause of preventable disease and premature death in the world today. It ranks alongside unhealthy diets, inadequate physical activity, and tobacco smoking, as a major global risk factor for mortality. Globally, air pollution is responsible for approximately 7 million premature deaths each year. In Australia annual mortality is conservatively estimated to be more than 3,200 with a cost greater than AUD $6.2 billion from years of life lost. However, the full health and social impacts are much more extensive. This report explains why the effects of air pollution are so far reaching and, equally, why coordinated action to make air safer is one of the best investments in Australian health.

Children are especially vulnerable to air pollution which can have both acute and long-term impacts on their health and wellbeing. Allergies, asthma and the airborne transmission of infectious diseases are the most visible impacts of air pollution for children under 15 years of age. However, beginning in the womb, children can be exposed to air pollution that impacts their long-term respiratory, cardiovascular, and cognitive health in ways that are less obvious. Improving air quality in the settings where children spend much of their time—such as schools, playgrounds and in the home—represents an important opportunity for improving health outcomes for Australians across the life course. In this webinar, we hear from air quality researchers and public health professionals with a particular focus on improving children’s health: Dr Amanda Wheeler, Senior Research Scientist CSIRO, and Associate Investigator at the Centre for Safe Air; Hayley Dyke, Medical Lead for Communicable Disease Surveillance and Response, Centre of Disease Control, NT Health The webinar and Q&A will be moderated by Dr Sabrina Idrose, Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Centre for Safe Air and Research Fellow at the University of Melbourne. Access the YouTube recording here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJtKUaH4MpE&t=45s