Sam Birrell (Nicholls, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

Yesterday in this place I asked a question in question time of the Minister for Climate Change and Energy, the minister who is notably not in the chamber now doing silly things like debating policy! Who'd waste their time doing that? I asked the minister about the LDV eT60, a ute that would cost a struggling tradie an extra $46,000. I asked, just to remind everyone:

Is it true that the maximum range of this ute is 300 kilometres, the distance from Melbourne to Hamilton, but only if it's empty? Is it also true that, if the back of the ute's fully loaded up, the maximum range drops to 150 kilometres, the distance from Melbourne to Bendigo but not back to Melbourne?

The minister got up, and I could see what was going on. He was getting all excited. He was thinking: 'I'm going to school this new Nat. I'm going to teach him what it's like to be here on the other end of the intellectual gigantism of the Minister for Climate Change and Energy. I'm going to tell him about an article in Drive and I'm going to tell him about the New Zealand ute.'

In his answer, the minister referred to a headline: 'LDV eT60 electric ute now cheaper than its diesel twin—but only in New Zealand'. Well, he schooled me, didn't he? But it's sort of illuminating, isn't it? Does it mean the cost of the electric ute came down? It did with a massive government taxpayer subsidy, but it also meant that the price of the diesel ute went up. So the diesel ute went up and the electric ute went down thanks to a massive taxpayer subsidy. You'd know that if you did a little bit more research. I recommend that the Minister for Climate Change and Energy do some more research. I think it's good to go beyond the headlines sometimes. It's what he didn't mention. New Zealand has just repealed its clean car scheme. They repealed it in December 2023. New Zealand transport minister Simeon Brown had this to say in his media release announcing the repeal of the ute tax:

The previous government's scheme, which provided subsidies for people purchasing electric vehicles while taxing hardworking farmers and tradies who have little choice about the type of vehicle they need for work, is inequitable and fiscally irresponsible.

Many drivers who need utes for work can't avoid charges under the scheme as there are few viable alternatives that meet their needs.

That's the point we're trying to make.

I'm not against electric vehicles. I think more people in the city should buy them. If it can get you to Kew, into the city, that's wonderful. That's fantastic. Go home and charge it. It's great stuff. But what the proposed policy does is punish people for whom an EV is not a viable alternative. A lot of them are in our electorates. There's not an electric vehicle that can do the job on a dairy farm. There's not an electric vehicle that can get me from Melbourne to Hamilton in the great member for Wannon's electorate.

A policy that massively increases the cost of these vehicles that are a tool of trade and needed and desired by sections of the Australian community is a tax. It is a tax. What's the definition of a tax? Extra money you have to pay. Every question time is just bragging about this tax cut—$15 a week that you're going to give to people. But what if you're going to push the cost of their new car up significantly more than that? You failed to mention that. I think it's time for a dose of reality in this place. How long is it going to take to pay off with the savings? How long? I heard one of the questions to the minister estimate that it might take 30 years. You've got to own the ute for 30 years before you can pay it off. Again, I'm not against EVs. They have their place.

It's imperative that this fuel emission standard policy is gotten right. That's why we're debating it. But to get it right you've got to consider the people that it will impact. That's what we're supposed to do in this place. It's not just to get up and recite slogans, which seems to be all that happens over there these days; it's to debate substantive policy and talk about the impacts of policies on people. That's what we're trying to do, and the impact is that the cost of cars is going to go up.

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