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

Again, I very much appreciate the question. In fact, I suspect that I appreciate being asked it more than the member appreciates being asked to ask it, because he's been put in a rather tricky situation. What we're about is giving Australians more choice and more fuel-efficient vehicles. In fact, for electorates that are in outer-urban areas or regional areas, they save more in fuel costs by having more efficient cars because they drive more. Again, that is a fact, but others have said it more eloquently than I have. The member for Bradfield wrote in the Australian:

Given the long distances travelled in regional Australia, the savings could be even greater for people living outside the main cities.

When he's good, the member for Bradfield's good, isn't he!

Again, I have to confess that I quoted the member for Bradfield earlier and I left a sentence out, which I shouldn't have done. I talked about how in the United States, as the member for Bradfield was arguing, demand for cars was the same before fuel efficiency standards than after, but he actually went into more detail than that. He said—and I'll give the full quote:

So when fuel efficiency standards were introduced in the US, the most popular models before introduction stayed the most popular models after introduction.

And this is what I felt left out last time:

Essentially, what Americans call pickup trucks and what we'd call utes, like the Chevy Silverado. There wasn't a material change in price and we don't expect that there would be a material change in price here.

We've got an opposition that is so negative that, while they oppose our polices—which is fair enough; we're used to that—they oppose their own policies as well. I suspect the opposition could do with looking at how some groups have responded to this policy, groups that actually represent the interests of motorists, like Australia's oldest motoring group, the NRMA, who said:

The NRMA welcomes the Australian Government's announcement and we are pleased that a responsible and achievable option over time is being presented to the Australian people.

That is from the chief executive of the NRMA, which has been standing up for motorists since 1920, which is about 104 more years than those opposite, because they actually don't stand up for Australian motorists. And CHOICE, who stand up for Australian consumers across the board, said the absence of standards in Australia has made Australia 'an unattractive market for more efficient vehicle manufacturers'.

CHOICE stands up for consumers. The NRMA stands up for consumers and motorists. This side of the House stands up for consumers and motorists. That side of the House just stands for scare campaigns which won't survive contact with reality.

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