November 9, 2020 - Doctors for the Environment Australia has welcomed the NSW Government’s electricity infrastructure roadmap for the orderly switch of NSW’s energy supply from coal to renewable energy sources. The burning of ...
Air Pollution
Air pollution is a major environmental risk to health.
Better air quality reduces illness and death from stroke, heart disease, lung cancer, and respiratory diseases, such as asthma. Links to diabetes and impaired infant growth are increasingly recognised. Policies to support reducing the combustion of fossil fuels through cleaner transport and power generation, are needed to reduce key sources of outdoor air pollution. Our Air Pollution Special Interest Group(SIG) members seek to support policies and programs to improve the health of all Australians through better protection of clean air.
Air Pollution Resources
REPORT ON AIR POLLUTION
“Lethal power: how coal is killing people in Australia” delivers a nation-wide estimate of the health effects from air pollution
FACTSHEETS ON AIR POLLUTION
Bushfires and Health: our fire-prone continent is at particular risk from the impacts of climate change, and we are experiencing more extreme heat events, an increase in severe fire danger days and a longer fire season. (Dec 2017)
2020 Federal Budget: Vales Point should be given pollution fees not grants
October 8, 2020 - Inclusion of a grant in the federal budget for Vales Point power station is an outrageous misuse of public funds, says Doctors for the Environment Australia’s spokesperson Dr Ben Ewald. ...
New report reveals the health costs of coal-fired power stations
September 16, 2020 - Australia’s power stations are located near regional towns such as Morwell, Victoria, Muswellbrook, New South Wales, and Gladstone, Queensland, or in rural areas well away from cities, writes Dr Ben ...
The Driven: Electric buses and trains are the answer, not more cars
September 9, 2020 - COVID-19 has infected and killed over 500 people in Australia and impacted thousands more. Dr Graeme McLeay and A/Prof Vicki Kotsirilos AM state that there is, however, another silent and ...
A Stronger Tomorrow – State Infrastructure Strategy discussion paper (1 Sept 2020)
September 1, 2020 - The Western Australian government recently called for submissions on their A Stronger Tomorrow – State Infrastructure Strategy discussion paper. DEA supports the concept and proposal of taking a long term ...
Newcastle Herald: Clean air should be a right not a dirty secret
July 27, 2020 - The summer’s bushfires blanketed Australia’s east coast with thick smoke, writes Dr Bob Vickers. But even when we don’t have bushfires, Australians are still being exposed to harmful air pollution ...
Insightplus: COVID-19 and beyond- impact of air pollution
June 15, 2020 - Air pollution is a known risk factor for a number of diseases and is associated with increased risk of mortality and chronic diseases and hospitalisations even from exposure at low ...
Lessons to be learnt in relation to the Australian bushfire season 2019-20
May 22, 2020 - DEA has provided a submission to the Senate inquiry, Lessons to be Learnt in relation to the 2019-20 bushfire season. DEA recommendations include the need for more research into the ...
Media release: Doctors alarmed by the jump in air pollution from power stations call for action
April 6, 2020 - New figures showing worsening sulphur dioxide air pollution from three NSW coal-fired power stations must be met with tighter license conditions on power plants to reduce the significant risks to ...
Independent Review into SA’s 2019-20 Bushfire Season
March 20, 2020 - DEA highlighted the serious omissions of consideration of neither health nor climate change in the review. DEA recommendations include the acknowledgment of the ongoing impact of climate change on bushfires, ...
Submission to NSW Legislative Council Inquiry into the costs for remediation of sites containing coal ash repositories
February 20, 2020 - The process of coal combustion leads to a concentration of trace elements in the resulting waste ash. While exposure to the traces of these elements in nature does not usually ...
Media release: Doctors warn extending the life of Vales Point coal-fired power station will have a human cost, from Lake Macquarie to Sydney
February 18, 2020 - Doctors have today slammed the Morrison government’s proposed $11m grant to Vales Point coal-fired power station, as the money to prolong the life of this ageing coal fired-power station is ...
Victoria’s new environmental laws submission (February 2020)
February 7, 2020 - This submission focuses primarily upon aspects of the new EP laws as they relate to air pollution and climate change, as these are closely related to DEA policy and expertise. ...
New Daily: Burning anxiety–The new normal isn’t just the fire, it’s the fear
January 13, 2020 - Speaking to The New Daily, psychiatrist Dr Robert Llewellyn-Jones and Honorary Secretary Dr Richard Yin highlight that climate change impacts such as Australia’s unprecedented fires not only have direct physical ...
AusDoc: As Australia burns, where is our plan?
January 10, 2020 - As the fires continue to burn across eastern Australia, DEA’s Honorary Secretary Dr Richard Yin and DEA member Dr George Crisp, write the full scale of the health impacts and ...
Libération: Australie “La fumée s’est infiltrée partout, dans les maisons, les bureaux et même à l’hôpital”
December 27, 2019 - French daily newspaper, Libération, interviewed DEA’s co-chair Dr Eugenie Kayak about the health impacts of the hazardous smoke pollution in Sydney from the NSW bushfires, which have for weeks ravaged ...
‘Horrified’ doctors call for direct action on bushfire health threat
December 12, 2019 - Doctors for the Environment Australia is horrified by the reaction of the Morrison government to the unprecedented public health threat from the hazardous air pollution in Sydney and surrounds which ...
Newcastle Herald: Emotional toll of mining brought to surface
October 14, 2019 - The effects of coal mining are not only physical, they’re also emotional, writes Dr Bob Vickers. In the Hunter Valley, thermal coal mining is creating an adversarial culture in coal ...
Muswellbrook Chronicle: Singleton Dr Bob Vickers, and member of Doctors for the Environment Australia, weighs in on recent Dartbrook coal mine decision
August 23, 2019 - THE NSW Independent Planning Commission (IPC) recently decided on the Dartbrook underground coal mine, writes Dr Bob Vickers. In its decision, they approved the mine to continue operations until 2022, ...
The Guardian: Australian power stations among world’s worst for toxic air pollution
August 19, 2019 - Dr Ben Ewald told the Guardian that there were places in Australia that had a serious SO2 (sulphur dioxide) problem and limits were set well above what was needed to protect human ...