The Australian exposure guidelines (described as "interim") are set by the National Health and Medical Research Council in 1989. They are similar to many other countries. For the general public, the limits are:
- Electric fields: 5 kV m for 24 hours a day exposure, 10 kV m for a few hours per day, can be exceeded for a few minutes per day.
- Magnetic fields: 100 µT for 24 hours a day exposure, 1000 µT for a few hours per day, can be exceeded for a few minutes per day.
Logan
A decision a few years ago relating to a city called Logan attracted some publicity. A utility company, Energex, applied for permission to install some new equipment. Permission was initially refused, and the matter went to the Queensland Planning and Environment Court in November 2001. In fact, by the time of the hearing, Logan City Council and Energex had already reached agreement, and the Court simply endorsed that agreement. The agreement included some clauses stating that the magnetic field would not exceed 0.4 µT in certain specified locations in specified properties (the locations specified are some way back from the actual lines which run along the street). These conditions would, in fact, be met by the design of the installation originally proposed by Energex, without any alteration or modification.
Thus, this seems to be a case of pragmatic agreement reached between a company and a local authority. It does not seem to have been imposed on them by the Court or anyone else, it does not limit the maximum field produced by the equipment, and it does not seem to change the exposure limits which apply across Australia as a whole.
