Collie has the fifth-worst air quality of all towns in Australia, according to the Australian Conservation Foundation.
The ACF’s new The Dirty Truth report maps the most polluted towns and suburbs in the country by postcode.
It identified the five areas with the worst air quality as being Collie and Newman in Western Australia, Mount Isa in Queensland, the Hunter Region in New South Wales and the Latrobe Valley in Victoria.
Coal-fired power stations are the biggest emitters in three of those areas, while mining operations create the most emissions in the other two.
Collie’s Muja Power Station is responsible for 41.05 percent of emissions in the area.
It also found 90 percent of polluting facilities listed in the National Pollutant Inventory were in postcodes with low-middle weekly household incomes.
Just 0.1 percent of polluting facilities were in areas with high household income areas.
Australian Conservation Foundation economics program manager Matthew Rose said living in highly polluted areas kills.
“Air pollution is a climate issue and a class issue in Australia. Poorer Australians who live around mines or refineries or in the shadows of coal-fired power stations are unfairly bearing the burden of pollution that is a by-product of the goods and services all Australians use,” Mr Rose said.
“So often it’s about economics. It could be because land is cheaper there. Or it could be that governments and companies have decided to put these facilities in low-income areas because often those communities don’t have as much political power.
Many low-income Australians can only afford to rent or buy in areas where there is an increased risk of exposure to air pollution. If they are made sick by the air, they can’t afford to simply move to somewhere else – and why should they?
- Australian Conservation Foundation economics program manager Matthew Rose
“Many low-income Australians can only afford to rent or buy in areas where there is an increased risk of exposure to air pollution. If they are made sick by the air, they can’t afford to simply move to somewhere else – and why should they?”
Mr Rose said the elderly and children were extremely vulnerable in highly polluted areas.
Air pollution kills around 3,000 Australians every year and worsens conditions such as asthma, emphysema, chronic bronchitis and other respiratory diseases.
- Australian Conservation Foundation economics program manager Matthew Rose
“Air pollution kills around 3,000 Australians every year and worsens conditions such as asthma, emphysema, chronic bronchitis and other respiratory diseases,” he said.
“Children and the elderly are particularly vulnerable to the direct health impacts of air pollution. These are the same groups that are most affected by heatwaves, which are getting worse because of climate change.
“Australia’s air pollution standards are fragmented and – where they exist at all – are in many cases weaker than the standards recommended by the World Health Organisation.
“Dealing with air pollution has been in the too hard basket for too long.
”People shouldn’t have to move to get away from pollution. Australia needs new, nationally consistent air quality standards and an independent body to regulate and enforce the rules.”
ACF’s report relied on emissions data from the NPI and weekly household income data from the Australia Bureau of Statistics.
