Australia-first IAQ report reveals major gaps

The State of Indoor Air in Australia 2025 report, led by QUT’s ARC Training Centre for Advanced Building Systems Against Airborne Infection Transmission (THRIVE), highlights the health, wellbeing and economic risks posed by poor indoor air quality (IAQ) across homes, workplaces, schools, hospitals and public buildings.

The report, written by Associate Professor Wendy Miller and THRIVE director Distinguished Professor Lidia Morawska, both from QUT’s School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, analysed 106 peer-reviewed studies involving data from more than 2,500 buildings – less than 0.03% of Australia’s building stock – and found widespread variations in monitored pollutant concentrations.

Miller says translating evidence into policy and practice was challenging in the absence of data about the status of air inside Australian buildings.

“This report acts as a baseline for indoor air quality and as a catalyst for multi-jurisdictional and transdisciplinary discussion that leads to a national strategy,” Miller says.

Morawska says the report is a critical first step toward a national strategy to improve indoor air.

“We have long understood the link between indoor air and health, but until now there has been no comprehensive national picture of the air Australians breathe indoors,” Professor Morawska said.

“This report provides the scientific evidence needed to inform policy, regulation and building design to protect people from exposure to harmful pollutants and airborne pathogens.”

Findings

The report makes several key findings:

• IAQ is not adequately addressed in Australia’s building codes or health strategies
• Fewer than 0.03% of buildings have been studied for indoor air pollutants
• Common pollutants include carbon dioxide, particulate matter, volatile organic compounds, nitrogen dioxide and formaldehyde
• IAQ varies significantly by building type, location, ventilation design and occupancy patterns.

The findings build on Morawska’s landmark 2024 Science paper calling for mandatory indoor air quality standards in public buildings.

“Clean indoor air should be a basic expectation, not a luxury,” she says.

“We need coordinated action across government, industry and the community to ensure safe, healthy and resilient indoor environments.”

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