New campaign prioritises indoor air quality

The visibility campaign will take place on November 8, 2025, to mark World Ventil8 Day, and will be promoted at the Safer shared air: Making the invisible visible conference, to be held at Parliament House in Canberra on November 6.

Organisations can participate by:

• Monitoring their IAQ
• Committing to making their IAQ data visible by November 2026, for example by showing dashboards in lobbies or sharing updates online
• Sharing involvement using the supplied campaign toolkit, which includes social media content, posters, and digital signage.

These actions aim to raise awareness of the importance of IAQ in health and accessibility and create safer, healthier, and more inclusive indoor spaces for all.

For more information and to register, visit the campaign website.

Organisations signing on

The Australian Academy of Science is among the first organisations to commit to the campaign. The Academy will light up the Shine Dome in Canberra and commit to making its IAQ monitoring visible.

“The Shine Dome, the home of science in Australia, will proudly light up blue and green and display our indoor air quality data as part of the Making the invisible visible campaign,” says Anna-Maria Arabia, Chief Executive of the Australian Academy of Science. “If you don’t measure it, you can’t manage it.”

AIRAH, a strong advocate for improving IAQ, has also signed up for the campaign.

“For over two decades, AIRAH has proudly called the James Harrison Centre home, right in the vibrant heart of Melbourne’s CBD,” says AIRAH CEO Sami Zheng, Affil.AIRAH.

“It’s not just an office for our staff; it’s a welcoming space for our members to connect. We believe that fostering a safe and productive environment is essential for everyone. Let’s embrace the opportunity for positive change – now is the perfect time to make a difference together!”

Getting IAQ on the agenda

As well as calling for greater visibility of IAQ data in public spaces, the Safer Air Project and a wide range of industry stakeholders are advocating for action from government.

Safer shared air: Making the invisible visible is the Safer Air Project’s second annual Parliament House event. The full day conference will highlight why improving IAQ matters, examine the science and the evidence for mandating IAQ performance standards, and set out how to make indoor air safer for everyone to breathe.

The event will include addresses from Assistant Minister Rebecca White MP, Assistant Minister for Health and Aged Care, Indigenous Health and for Women Prof Michael Kidd AO, Chief Medical Officer and Senator Michelle Ananda-Rajah and Dr Monique Ryan MP, Co-Chairs of the Parliamentary Friends of Clean Air Quality group.

A lived experience panel with community advocates, including voices from disability and patient organisations will discuss the importance of IAQ. The latest science and evidence will be presented by leading experts, including new reports on IAQ from Thrive, the Australian Academy of Science and enHealth. And a policy panel will explore how IAQ performance standards are developed and updated, with speakers across the day from ACTU, IWBI, FMA, GBCA and NABERS, among others.

AIRAH is one of the organisations supporting of the event. Advocacy and Policy Manager Mark Vender and Associate Director of the IAQ Special Technical Group Claire Bird, M.AIRAH, will both moderate sessions on the day.

“The event will show that there is a big appetite for monitoring and improving indoor air quality, especially now that advances in science and technology are making this easier and more cost effective,” Vender says.

“But we need government to signal this as a priority and recognise the importance of the topic for the health, wellbeing and productivity of all Australians. Parliament House is the perfect location to get IAQ on the policy radar.”

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