Here in the south of Canberra, we’re right on the doorstep of the best natural environment that the ACT has to offer. We love our national parks and stunning views of the Brindabella ranges. Unfortunately, the valley areas of Canberra are among the worst for wood heater smoke.

The smoke from a regular household fireplace causes serious damage to your lungs and respiratory system. Wood heater pollution is responsible for more deaths than car pollution, and this is in large part because the particles emitted by wood heaters—PM2.5—are small enough to get stuck in the lungs and the bloodstream. The 2023 State of the Environment Report, found that wood heaters were responsible for 72% of unsafe daily levels of PM2.5 from 2015 to 2022. The report also found that there are no safe levels of PM2.5 pollution.

Wood heater smoke is at its worst down here in Tuggeranong and Weston Creek. The natural geography of our valleys trap all that smoke down low in the suburbs, where we continuously breathe it in.

At our heart, we are a city that cares about our neighbours. In Canberra, around 65 000 members of our community suffer from long-term respiratory conditions such as asthma. Asthma doubles the breathing difficulties caused by wood heater smoke.

People do deserve to be warm at night, and they definitely deserve to have options to do so without compromising the health of those around them.

A just transition applies to wood heaters too. Last term, the Greens secured a trial to replace wood heaters with an energy-efficient reverse cycle system in public housing properties.

Right now, many households with fireplaces still don’t know how harmful the smoke from them can be for their neighbours. But the ACT government does know the dangers, they’ve even committed to phasing them out by 2045. While we welcome the phase-out date right now the ACT Government has no plan to get us there.

This needs to change.

Resources

• ACT Government Wood Heaters Replacement Scheme
• ACT Commissioner for Sustainability and the Environment's Investigation into Woodfire Heaters
• Asthma Australia
• Lung Foundation