Kylea Tink (North Sydney, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Recent media reports have excitedly proclaimed that the number of electric vehicles on Australian roads has almost doubled in the past year, growing from 44,000 to more than 83,000 by year end. Consumers are taking it upon themselves to move to cleaner methods of private transport. However, while this made for good headlines, EVs still only accounted for just 3.8 per cent of new car sales, with the remaining 96.2 per cent of sales being of petrol or internal combustion engines. Not only is this a problem for our climate, with light vehicles accounting for around 11 per cent of Australia's greenhouse gas emissions, it's a problem for our health. Burning dirty petrol is killing us and imposing huge health costs across our society.

North Sydney is home to one of the most congested stretches of road in the country, running from the northern end of the Sydney Harbour Bridge along the Warringah Freeway to the Artarmon Road exit. Cars driving on this road produce a variety of noxious emissions, including tiny solid particles that can be inhaled and enter the bloodstream, as well as carbon monoxide and oxides of sulphur and nitrogen. These emissions can cause a range of respiratory, neurological and cardiovascular diseases, as well as adverse birth outcomes and diabetes.

A recent study released by the New South Wales government suggests most people in Sydney's greater metropolitan region are exposed to air pollution levels which are considered unsafe by the World Health Organization. Alarmingly, it found light vehicle air pollution caused 110 deaths and $832 million in health costs. Further research from the Melbourne Climate Futures centre shows vehicle emissions in Australia may be annually responsible for over 11,000 premature deaths in adults, over 12,000 cardiovascular hospitalisations, nearly 7,000 respiratory hospitalisations and over 65,000 active asthma cases.

Children are especially vulnerable to the effects of vehicle pollution as their bodies struggle to detoxify any pollutant load, and children living within 75 metres of a major road have nearly a 30 per cent increase of lifetime asthma. Yet we continue to see schools built in areas of high traffic and the removal of trees that have previously provided a potential barrier for schools.

These health issues and deaths by tailpipe emissions are avoidable. Every other country in the OECD has standards for the amount of pollution new vehicles can emit, yet Australia continues to have some of the most polluting vehicles running on some of the dirtiest petrol in the world on our roads.

Last year, I presented a private member's bill in this place to ensure cleaner, safer transport for all. With the research clearly sounding the alarm, the solution is tangibly in sight. The North Sydney community calls on the government to move immediately to step in and reduce the social, economic and human costs of vehicle emissions.