Christine Milne (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

asked the Minister representing the Minister for Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities, upon notice, on 18 May 2012:

1. What is the timeframe and expected delivery date for the National Plan for Clean Air.

2. When will the PM2.5 Cape Grim Baseline Air Pollution Station be reinstated and resume monitoring.

3. Can PM10 and PM2.5 baseline air quality readings be taken at Cape Grim using the same frequency and standard, so as to match the National Environment Protection Measure for Ambient Air Quality standard.

4. Can the results of the Cape Grim monitoring station be made available to the public via the internet, including through the provision of real-time data.

Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Minister for Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities has provided the following answer to the honourable senator's question:

1. The National Plan for Clean Air has to be submitted to the Council of Australian Governments by the end of 2014.

2. Cape Grim is currently monitoring PM2.5 and will continue to do so as part of its aerosol program.

3. PM10 and PM2.5 baseline air quality readings can be taken at Cape Grim using the same frequency and standard to match the National Environmental Protection Measurement but would require additional investment and a separate monitoring system to do so. The aerosol component of the program at Cape Grim has been carefully designed to investigate the chemistry of aerosol in the remote marine background atmosphere and this program has amassed a 30 year record. Aerosol sampling under the National Environment Protection Measure for Ambient Air Quality standard is designed to produce information on the concentrations of particles that moderate populations are exposed to hence is designed for near-realtime monitoring and much higher concentrations than recorded at Cape Grim. The population at Cape Grim is very low so under the National Environment Protection Measure PM10 and PM2.5 observations would not be required at Cape Grim.

4. General meteorological data from the Cape Grim Baseline Air Pollution Station are available in real-time on the Bureau's external web site. Other measurements at the Cape Grim station are not suitable for real-time display as achieving the required accuracy for monitoring background concentrations involve complex measurement processes with post collection analysis. Other sampling is done using filters and flasks that may be analysed months after sampling. However, as part of the outputs of the Cape Grim Science Program jointly managed by the Bureau and CSIRO, time series of data for key atmospheric constituents measured at the Cape Grim station are regularly updated and available on the CSIRO web site at: http://www.csiro.au/greenhouse-gases/. Data summaries from all components of the Cape Grim program are published every two years in the Baseline Atmospheric Program series of reports.