The 2019–20 Australian bushfire season saw unprecedented fires and black smoke sweep across the country, leading to increases in emergency department visits for respiratory problems and in sales of asthma medication.
Australia's 20-year-old national environmental laws need to be modernised to address climate change as part of the statutory review now under way, the chief minister of the Australian Capital Territory, Andrew Barr, has said.
For months, Australians breathed air pollution up to 26 times above levels considered hazardous to human health. The long-term impact could be devastating.
