Call to ban old trucks from big cities

The Grattan Institute estimates that nearly 17,000 of the trucks and buses in Melbourne where built prior to 2003. Likewise, there almost 17,000 heavy vehicles that are at least two decades old on Sydney roads.

Analysis by Grattan shows that exhaust-pipe pollutants from trucks kill more than 400 Australians and contribute to medical conditions such as lung cancer, stroke, asthma and heart disease.

Accordingly, Grattan has called for diesel trucks that were built before 2003 to be banned in Melbourne and Sydney from 2025 in order to reduce exposure to deadly air pollution.