Mr RIPOLL (3:23 PM) —I congratulate the member for Cowper. It is an unusual motion. We do not get too many of this style of motion in this place. When we in the House talk about air pollution there is always a risk that people might be referring to the things we say in this place. There must be something in the air this week. The member for New England has moved a motion on ethanol—one I am quite supportive of. It is a good idea. The member for Kennedy is here and he will have a few things to say about ethanol. Today we have also had the member for Denison and the member for Moore with an antismoking bill. All are to do with air pollution and the quality of the air that we breathe.

In this motion the member has specifically raised the issue of indoor air pollution. I had to rush off this morning to do a little research so I would at least know something about it. People will not be surprised to learn where that pollution comes from—simple things like smoke, wood heaters, chemicals and fumes from outside. That led me to do a little more research as to how indoor air pollution becomes a significant problem. It originates from outdoor pollution. At no stage, in an ordinary environment—for example, a home without special filters—can you have the air quality inside better than the air quality outside.

That led me to do some further looking around to see what that might mean. The sort of air pollution we are talking about is gasses and fine particles in the air: things such as carbon monoxide, which reduces the ability of blood to carry oxygen; nitrogen dioxide, which triggers asthma attacks; the depletion of the ozone layer, which causes respiratory disorders; and fine particles in the air, sulphur dioxide, for example. Outdoor pollution has a huge impact on what happens indoors. Indoor air pollution comes from cigarette smoke, heaters and stoves, chemical odours, animal furs, moulds, dusts and things that can affect our health. It is a serious issue because in Australia we have one of the highest rates of asthma in the world and some fairly horrendous respiratory disorders.

To be fair to the member for Cowper and to his motion, we need to have tight regulation. I agree that we need to look at these things. But we need to have a careful look at where some of the most dangerous of these pollutants are coming from. They are coming from vehicles—cars. Pollutants such as carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide and other things cause adverse respiratory disorders and affect people in this country with chronic respiratory conditions and cause a range of deaths. There is a link between cardiovascular disease and respiratory disease.

A lot of research has not been done in Australia on this specific issue and there is little data on where pollution comes from and the level at which it impacts on us all. In the US they have done some very good studies on this issue. It would not surprise anyone that 80 to 90 per cent of people live in the big cities—in the coastal regions—and those areas have the highest incidence of car use and therefore the greatest problem with the fumes they put out.

We need to look at establishing standards but we need to go one step further and do something about them. The first thing we could do is start looking at car emissions—the major source of pollution in the air. Emissions are impossible to see and it is really hard to determine the level of impact they have in terms of deaths. Research undertaken by the Bureau of Transport Economics in 2003 indicated that approximately 1,200 people die each year and 21,000 extra days are lost due to asthma attacks as a direct result of hydrocarbon and particulates in the air from motor vehicles. That accounts for about $3.3 billion per annum in lost revenue to the economy. Another study was done in 1998 by the National Environment Protection Council which had a figure closer to 2,500 deaths. There is a way to deal with this—with biofuels, ethanol, biodiesel and a range of things that oxygenate fuels and dramatically reduce the amount of carbons and toxins in the air. (Time expired)