Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

The CSIRO makes it very clear that hydrogen-powered vehicles power the electricity of those vehicles. If the Leader of the Opposition doesn't agree with the former Chief Scientist Dr Alan Finkel—

Honourable members interjecting—

I know that there are electric vehicles that you use in inner suburban areas, and that's very important. That's fine when people want to make those choices. We're not going to force people to buy those cars by putting up petrol prices by changing the fuel emissions standards, which is nothing more than a sneaky tax on petrol. We're not going to do that. We will ensure that we're supporting it, through the incentives and the initiatives we're putting in place. But one of the things we're particularly focusing on is hydrogen powered electric vehicles, because those are the things that can transport heavy vehicles and consumer vehicles over long distances, which is what Australia needs. Our approach is following the Australian way. The Leader of the Opposition might want to just go down the path of heavily populated cities in Europe and think that's the solution for Australia. (Time expired)

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