Glenn Lazarus (Queensland, Palmer United Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today I am speaking about a matter of national importance and an issue which affects every Australian: the issue of smoke alarms, also referred to as smoke detectors. Smoke alarms are one of the most important health and safety devices in this country. Every household across Australia should have smoke alarms installed, and they should be fully functioning and regularly tested. Despite this, every year, Australians die in household fires or are severely injured as a result of fire related burns or smoke inhalation. The sad truth is these deaths are preventable and would be prevented if every household across Australia had photoelectric smoke alarms installed instead of ionisation smoke alarms.

What most people do not realise is that smoke detectors come in two main types: ionisation and photoelectric. In lay terms, ionisation smoke alarms detect fire, and photoelectric smoke alarms detect smoke and smouldering activity. To give you an example, photoelectric alarms go off when a certain amount or level of smoke is detected in the air. Typically they will activate when smoke obscuration is between three and 20 per cent per metre. Twenty per cent per metre is considered the maximum save level of smoke. Therefore, a photoelectric alarm certified to this standard can be expected to give early warning of a smoky or smouldering fire. Ionisation alarms, however, are not based on smoke obscuration; they are based on measuring the level of small particles typically given off in a fast-flaming fire.

If I were to go to the shops or my local hardware store, I would find that the most common type of smoke alarm available for purchase is the ionisation smoke alarm, and it would probably be the cheapest, so it is no wonder that many households across Australia have ionisation smoke alarms installed. They are the most common and the cheapest. Unfortunately, the cheapest is not always the best; and, based on the view of many, ionisation smoke alarms should not be available for purchase or installation in Australia at all. They should be prohibited. But that is something I will talk more about in a moment.

What I would like to do first is explain how the two different types of smoke alarms operate in practice—that is, in the case of a fire. I will use my wonderful next-door neighbour in Brisbane, Gary, as an example. Gary is safety oriented and has installed photoelectric smoke alarms throughout his home. One night while Gary and his family were sleeping an electrical fault in a small bar fridge started to smoulder and eventually developed into a full-scale raging fire. The photoelectric smoke alarms in his home would detect the smoke activity before the fire took hold and activate, which in turn would wake Gary and his family, giving them time to escape the home. As a result of having photoelectric smoke alarms installed in his home, Gary and his family would survive the fire. It is estimated that, on average, a photoelectric smoke alarm can provide up to 30 minutes warning before a fire takes hold and envelops a home.

What would have happened if Gary did not have photoelectric smoke alarms and instead had ionisation alarms as many Australian households do? During the night, while Gary and his family were sleeping, a fire would have broken out in his home. The fire would have produced toxic smoke and fumes, which would have filled the home and would have been inhaled by everyone sleeping. Due to the toxic nature of the smoke and fumes, anyone inhaling the smoke would have either died in their sleep or been rendered unconscious while sleeping. Eventually the fire would have grown to the size where the heat and flames would have reached the ionisation smoke alarms. At this point—the point at which practically the whole home was engulfed in flames—the ionisation smoke alarms would have gone off. The problem is that by this time Gary and his family were either already dead due to the inhalation of toxic fumes and smoke or they were unconscious, which means they would not have been woken in response to the alarm. If Gary and his family were lucky enough to have avoided smoke inhalation due to bedroom door closures et cetera, the size of the fire would have made it nearly impossible to escape the burning house without sustaining significant injury through burns or death trying to escape.

So why, given that photoelectric alarms are considered by virtually everyone involved in the fire emergency prevention and safety industry to be the safest and most appropriate fire safety and prevention devices, are Australians still able to purchase and install ionisation smoke alarms? The reason is that the Australian government has failed to act. Companies selling ionisation products in Australia have wielded too much influence over our country and our decision making. Test data since 1993 shows ionisation alarms fail to activate in Australian standards testing until more than three times the maximum safe limits set for the photoelectric alarms. In 2004, the Australian Building Codes Board approved changes to the Building Code of Australia to make photoelectric smoke alarms mandatory in commercial buildings. In 2008, Standards Australia amended the Australian standard in relation to smoke alarms, which should have been adopted by the Australian Building Codes Board, requiring photoelectric smoke alarms to be installed in all new homes. As at today, the Australian Building Codes Board has not acted, and Australia's national building code has not been amended or updated to reflect Standards Australia's critical amendment which would mandate that photoelectric smoke alarms be installed in all new homes. While recommendations have been made to the Australian Building Codes Board to amend the Australian building code to make it mandatory for photoelectric smoke alarms to be installed in new homes, to date the Australian Building Codes Board has failed to do this.

Despite this, in response to growing concerns across the world with problems associated with ionisation smoke alarms, the Northern Territory government has shown great leadership. Northern Territory regulations were recently amended in the form of the Fire and Emergency Amendment (Smoke Alarm Regulations) 2011 to require existing ionisation smoke alarms that stopped working to be replaced with photoelectric alarms. This became effective from 1 November 2011. As a result, photoelectric smoke alarms must now be installed in all new homes built in the Northern Territory.

Overseas, an increasing number of US states and cities have legislated to mandate photoelectric smoke alarms. States with state-wide legislation include Iowa, Massachusetts and Vermont; other states are also following suit. In some European countries the sale of ionisation smoke detectors is prohibited; these countries include Cyprus, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Switzerland. This is not only due to issues regarding their effectiveness but also in relation to concerns around the emission of radiation.

In recent years my home state of Queensland suffered one of the most horrific house fire tragedies in the country. Eleven lives were lost, including eight children. The coroner involved in the case recommended that every area of a house where people sleep have a photoelectric smoke alarm installed. Every year across Australia people are still dying or suffering horrific injuries as a result of house fires. These injuries and this loss of life is preventable and could easily be avoided if the Australian Building Codes Board would amend the Australian building code to require that all Australian households have photoelectric smoke alarms installed. Australia relies on the Australian building code and it is crucial that it reflects life-saving requirements. We also note that industry experts, supported by a growing body of evidence, suggest that not only should photoelectric smoke alarms be installed in all homes but that they should also be interconnected to ensure maximum response and minimise occupant response time, and that alarms should be located in all sleeping areas.

In raising the issue in the Senate today I am putting up my hand to be a champion for Australians and ensure that change is brought about in this country. We must stop preventable house fire deaths and house fire injuries in Australia. I am determined, on behalf of the people of Australia, to bring about change to a smoke alarm laws and to stop the wasteful and preventable injury and loss of life associated with house fires.