Chris Bowen (McMahon, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Climate Change and Energy) Share this | Hansard source

Here they go again! Every time they interject against renewable energy and electric cars, they just remind the Australian people they still don't get it. Keep it coming. Keep those interjections coming! The denial and delay, they should just keep it coming!

In relation to fuel efficiency standards, they are a complicated piece of work. The minister for transport and I released a consultation paper. We received many submissions calling for fuel efficiency standards. I will be frank with the honourable member: not many of those submissions went to the detail about how they should be designed—hardly any. The minister for transport and I read them all. Many called for fuel efficiency standards, but only one or two actually went to detailed elements of design. And we have to get that right.

What we have done is open our consultation for six weeks on the detailed design. Having waited 10 years, it's six weeks to get it right—to get the detail right. That's what the minister for transport and I are doing. That consultation period is well and truly open. We invite all submissions, including from members of the House and the Senate. I know peak groups are looking at their submissions. The minister for transport will be looking at that very carefully, as will I be, because we want to get it right. We said we want ambitious standards, but we want standards that are realistic and we want standards that are achievable. That's what we are committed to delivering, because Australia has had 10 years of delay and now we are getting on with it.

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