E&OE….
Topics: National Clean Air Agreement, voluntary phase-out of micro-beads.
GREG HUNT:
I’m delighted to announce that Australia has for the first time a National Clean Air Agreement.
States and territories have agreed with the Commonwealth on creating a National Clean Air Agreement. This means standards for small particulate matter.
This means our air is cleaner, our health is better, and our environment is improved.
It also means that there will be standards for new wood heaters and new garden equipment and outboards.
It’s expected that the savings in costs to our health and our environment over the next 20 years will be about $6.5 billion.
So we’ve made a bold step forward today.
A National Clean Air Agreement – Australia’s first National Clean Air Agreement – reduction in particulate matter, better standards for our children and our grandchildren.
Our goal is to make sure that our cities, which are the most liveable in the world repeatedly, are even better in years to come.
The other thing that is of significance today is that the national government, the states and territories have agreed on a voluntary phase-out of micro-beads, or micro-plastics.
These are little pollutants that damage our waterways. They have emerged as a problem over recent years.
And Australia will be one of the world’s leaders in phasing out micro-beads, which in turn helps protect our food chain, protect our waterways, and protect our marine environment.
Thank you very much.
(ENDS)