A doctors’ environmental group is calling for tougher air pollution regulations to protect smaller industrial communities, such as those in South Australia’s Upper Spencer Gulf.
Doctors for the Environment Australia has made a submission about proposed changes to the National Environment Protection Measure for Ambient Air Quality.
The group’s honorary secretary, Dr David Shearman, said advisory pollution limits need to be made mandatory and enforced.
He also said the advised standards do not currently apply to communities with fewer than 25,000 people.
“So essentially in terms of Port Augusta, this doesn’t leave you any further on if you want to ensure you have careful monitoring of pollution,” he said.
“The same applies to any other small place like Whyalla or Port Pirie.
“There is no reassurance that you will come in under these regulations.
“To make them mandatory we want them to be uniform all over Australia and we want them to be reduced because there is no safe level of air pollution.
“In Australia we have lagged for 10 years and the levels of pollution that we allow are not as safe as offered in many other advanced countries.”