Air pollution is seriously damaging the health of Australians across the country. In Melbourne's west, children breathe in the exhaust from trucks. In the Hunter Region of NSW, families are affected by coal dust. In Morwell, Victoria, people have inhaled fumes from a fire in a major coal mine. In these communities, and others, the toxic toll of pollution falls upon those with the least resources to do something about it. This research report shows that air pollution in Australia is both a class and a climate issue. 90% of the burden of air pollution falls upon low to middle income households, yet only 0.1% of air pollution falls on the highest income households.

Air pollution is killing thousands of Australians. An estimated 3,000 Australians die prematurely from urban air pollution every year. This is more than two-and-a-half times the number of deaths on our roads. Air pollution results in higher rates of illness such as asthma, emphysema, chronic bronchitis and other chronic pulmonary diseases. Yet, the Australian government has no strategy to effectively address the cause of this health crisis.

This report focuses on who is bearing the brunt of the impacts of air pollution in Australia. It compares current levels of air pollution with the socio-economic distribution of the population. The analysis overlaid emissions data from National Pollutant Inventory (NPI) with weekly household income distribution data from the Australia Bureau of Statistics (ABS). It shows middle to low income households are bearing the brunt of air pollution in this country.