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- "In the 1999 calendar year the Federal Government earned $87,933,131 from
the lead fuel excise. Only $15,000 was contributed to The Lead Advisory Service
Australia (LASA) in the Financial Year 1999-2000. This represents 0.0171% of an
excise generated from consumers being reinvested in a community service", said Ms
Elizabeth O’Brien of The LEAD Group today.
- "When compared to the estimated community cost of each lead poisoned child (ie for
each 10m g/dL rise in lead in blood) being $10,280, if only one
of 246 calls to LASA results in preventing one child from exceeding the Australian goal
the service is cost effective. We estimate the service to be many times more effective
than this" added Ms O’Brien.
Ms O’Brien explained that, "An important agreement from the Lead Roundtable
was that:-"… all Governments would work towards the development of a National
Lead Abatement Strategy including appropriate strategies for remediation of areas with
site-specific lead problems." For FY 1999-2000, the only evidence remaining of this
strategy is the booklet ("Lead Alert - 6 Step Guide to Painting Your Home),
some funding of remediation and education programs in lead mining or smelter towns and
LASA's funding. All other lead activities would appear to be funded by state or local
governments."
- "Whether the Lead Petrol Excise goes into general revenue and ends up going to the
states for specific or general programs is not known to The LEAD Group." Ms
O’Brien added, "It is clear that nowhere near the remaining lead income (after
subtracting the LASA grant from EA (remainder is $87,918,131) or even after subtracting
the NSW EPA grant as well (leaving $87,703,131)) very little is being spent on lead
abatement nationally.
"The total monetary value of donated time by staff and volunteers for the financial
year was nearly $49,000. Only a further 0.056% of the Lead Petrol Excise would be
needed to cover this cost. Without this volunteer contribution, the excellent level of
service on lead-related matters delivered to the community by the Lead Advisory Service
Australia would not be possible" continued Ms O’Brien.
Ms O’Brien said, "The decision makers at the NSW EPA and this year, in
conjunction with the Environment Minister, have decided to grant LASA only 5 months worth
of funding. This will enable the Lead Advisory Service (LAS) NSW to function until a
decision is made in November 2000 about project funding from the Environmental Trust. The
LEAD Group was advised that the NSW EPA would not consider funding the Lead Advisory
Service itself. The feasibility of the current level of service from LASA therefore is
dependent on other funding sources".
"We need to celebrate the beginning of the end of leaded petrol and we can probably
afford to congratulate Shell for introducing Lead Free Super well before the NSW or
Federal government requires them to do it but of course we all need to buy less petrol of
any kind for a sustainable future. With Lead Free Super the addition of lead from petrol
to the lead load already in our environment will finally stop - and now it's worth
cleaning up the historical contamination. The usual message that a petrol company or
environment minister would promote is that Lead Free Super is a fantastic environmentally
sound product and all our lead problems are over. A similar message put out about paint
when lead in paint was reduced in the 1950s led many doctors to fail to look for or
diagnose lead poisoning everafter, as they had forgotten that lead paint was already
"out there" on the homes that were being renovated. I'd hate the same misbelief
to happen with leaded petrol" continued Ms O’Brien. ###
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