On a clear day ... a swathe of smog partially obscuring Sydney's west yesterday morning. Photograph by SAHLAN HAYES

By JAMES WOODFORD in Canberra

All vehicles should be encouraged to convert to either LPG or compressed natural gas and all new open fireplaces in urban areas should be banned, a major national report into air quality has recommended. On a per capita basis, the nation's transport emissions are the most serious air pollution problem, says the report, Urban Air Pollution in Australia, prepared for the Federal Government by the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering.
The report also warns that a significant part of Australia's $13.8 billion-a-year tourism industry could be lost if increasing levels of pollution are not curbed.

A figure of 5 per cent of visitors being deterred by pollution is "conservative considering 70 per cent of tourists nominate Australia's unique flora, fauna and landscape as the main reasons for their visit". "Australian transport emissions are amongst the highest per capita in the world," it says. "Rates for ... the photochemical smog precursors and CO [carbon monoxide] are all similar to or worse than US cities. "They are all more than double the levels found in European cities and even more extreme in comparison to levels in Asian cities, especially the wealthy Asian cities (Singapore, Tokyo and Hong Kong)," the report says.  However pollution levels are relatively low compared to the rest of the world on an air pollution concentration basis rather than per capita,

In 1976, passenger vehicle ownership was 364 per 1,000 people. By 1995 this figure had risen to 476 and by 2015 it is expected to rise to 509 per 1,000 Australians. "This is a high level of car ownership, exceeding that of France (410) and Japan (360) but not as high as the USA (680)," says the report.  Exacerbating the problem is the fact that nearly half of Australia's 10 million vehicles are more than 10 years old.  All States and Territories should adopt uniform legislation and co-ordinate their policies on controlling pollution from wood heaters - including a ban on new open fireplaces in urban areas, council targeting of very smoky heaters, controls preventing the sale of wet firewood, and a program to buy back old heaters.
Releasing the report, the Federal Minister for the Environment, Senator Hill, foreshadowed community consultation, but said many of the problems raised would be addressed by the Government in coming months through the implementation of promises such as a national pollution inventory.